In a fascinating interview with the Washington Post, Nancy Pelosi touched on a litany of topics, the biggest one being Donald Trump and the likelihood of the Democratic controlled House of Representatives drawing up Articles of Impeachment.
Here is the critical exchange that has really divided people:
HELM: Do you feel that he has done anything that has been good for America?
PELOSI: He’s been a great organizer for Democrats, a great fundraiser for Democrats and a great mobilizer at the grass-roots level for Democrats. [Laughs.] And I think that’s good for America.
HELM: There have been increasing calls, including from some of your members, for impeachment of the president.
PELOSI: I’m not for impeachment. This is news. I’m going to give you some news right now because I haven’t said this to any press person before. But since you asked, and I’ve been thinking about this: Impeachment is so divisive to the country that unless there’s something so compelling and overwhelming and bipartisan, I don’t think we should go down that path, because it divides the country. And he’s just not worth it.
Later in the interview, they revisited impeachment:
HELM: You said earlier you don’t feel it’s worth it to pursue impeachment. Do you believe he’s fit to be president?
PELOSI: Are we talking ethically? Intellectually? Politically? What are we talking here?
HELM: All —
PELOSI: All of the above. No. No. I don’t think he is. I mean, ethically unfit. Intellectually unfit. Curiosity-wise unfit. No, I don’t think he’s fit to be president of the United States. And that’s up to us to make the contrast to show that this president — while he may be appealing to you on your insecurity and therefore your xenophobia, whether it’s globalization or immigrants — is fighting clean air for your children to breathe, clean water for them to drink, food safety, every good thing that we should be doing that people can’t do for themselves. You know, I have five kids, and I think I can do everything for them, but I can’t control the air they breathe, the water that they drink. You depend on the public sector to do certain things for the health and well-being of your family, and he is counter to that.
But again, this is coming across too negatively. I don’t usually talk about him this much. This is the most I’ve probably talked about him. I hardly ever talk about him. You know, it’s not about him. It’s about what we can do for the people to lower health-care costs, bigger paychecks, cleaner government.
Here is the thing: election season is almost upon us. About a dozen Democrats have already declared they are running. People are raising money. Twitter is already getting behind their respective candidates. Town halls are starting to show up on the news.
Impeachment is messy business. It IS divisive. It gives Trump's MAGA base something to latch onto, to rant about, to unite behind. Why give them that gift right before election season? They have been waiting for this ever since the Democrats took control of the House 2 months ago. FOX News rants about it, angry MAGA twitter tweets about it. We are living in their heads rent free.
So, let's not do it. Focus on the issues.
Here's a better plan:
1) Investigate the hell out of Trump and the entire GOP criminal enterprise and get as much out in the open as possible.
2) Run 2020 on positive progressive ideas. Win.
3) After Trump leaves office, he and the rest of the GOP and Trump crime family should stand trial on RICO charges, financial crimes, tax fraud, maybe espionage and treason.
4) Whoops - There’s no one left to pardon him.
5) Make HR 1 law.
This is a better plan than impeachment. We win at the ballot. We unite after Mueller's report comes out. We don't feed into their narrative. We don't give them the red meat. We watch them flail.