Pelosi gives Republicans the impeachment process they asked for, and now they're stuck with it
But, try as they might, the Grand Old Party crashers in the House could not erase the memory of such impressive witnesses as William Taylor, the top U.S. diplomat in Ukraine, who testified behind closed doors before the Gaetz intrusion.
Taylor's 15-page opening statement described in vivid detail how Trump withheld military aid to pressure President Volodymyr Zelenskiy to launch investigations into a couple of debunked conspiracy theories. One was about the 2016 election. The other was about Joe Biden and his son, Hunter.
Taylor's testimony, among others, helped support the argument Democrats have made in simple contrast to the shifting GOP argument: Trump should be impeached because he abused his power for his own political gain.
"It's been more than a month and Republicans in Washington still won't answer the simple question," Nancy Pelosi tweeted Monday. "Is it appropriate for a President to pressure a foreign country to undermine our elections?"
That argument could have surprisingly persuasive power, judging by a new survey from Grinnell College, especially when no names or parties are attached to the issue. When participants were asked, without mentioning Trump, whether it's OK "for political candidates in the U.S. to ask for assistance from a foreign government to help them win an election," 81 percent said no. Even Republican voters overwhelmingly reject what Trump did.
But when Trump's name is inserted, respondents returned to party lines. Overall, 42 percent said Trump should be impeached and removed from office. But while 83 percent of Democrats felt that way, 87 percent of Republicans did not.
Now that Democrats have announced they'll hold a vote to authorize an impeachment probe and shut down a Republican complaint, watch for the argument to shift again. Republicans now want to build a "merit-based" case to defend Trump, Politico reports, which apparently means they will argue as President Bill Clinton did that, whatever he did, it "doesn't rise to the level of impeachment."
Using that excuse, which I already have heard some Republican lawmakers use, could enable GOP lawmakers to avoid offending Trump's base voters without losing too many moderates, depending on whatever new revelations turn up. But a merit-based defense only works when the president in question still has enough merit.
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(E-mail Clarence Page at cpage@chicagotribune.com.)
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