Steve Hayward has postulated four theories of impeachment. Paul Mirengoff has added his own (a fifth). Matt Continetti posits a more direct version of Hayward’s first theory. Why is Nancy Pelosi doing this?
Because she has resigned herself to the argument that impeaching Trump is the way for Democrats to win the presidency and Senate 13 months from now. Pelosi’s bank shot isn’t aimed at Trump’s conviction on the Hill. It’s aimed at his loss at the polls.
I think Matt’s column is the best I have read so far. It is posted at the Washington Free Beacon under the headline “Pelosi’s Impeachment Bank Shot.” It is straightforward, it is concise, and it is, in its own way, chilling.
Matt doesn’t cite evidence in support of his theory. I think Quint Forgey’s Politico article “Pelosi warns a second Trump term could inflict ‘irreparable harm’ on the nation” can usefully be read as adding it.
JOHN adds: This is basically what I wrote last week, e.g.:
[I]mpeachment is a political act, not a legal one, and the Democrats’ motives are entirely political. They think that impeaching President Trump will cast a pall of discredit over him and weaken his chances for re-election in 2020. I think that calculation is probably right.
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