Here’s a collection of bits I’ve been seeing/hearing about the impeachment inquiry.
On the light side:
There have been a couple Twitter polls asking for the best scandal name. Appending “gate” might be getting old. Here’s my favorite: Ukraine Clown Posse.
#CivilWarLetters are also popping up again on Twitter. Paul Begala has a classic:
Metrics:
The data geeks at the fivethirtyeight podcast are starting to dig into the numbers around impeachment. They make a point that the survey question is important. Inquiry or impeachment could make a big difference in polling results. Nevertheless, their preliminary analysis shows that opinion has moved significantly across all political groups with the Whistleblower scandal.
538 does consensus analysis. In other words, they look for trends in various data. If you want to know what people are thinking, the 538 podcast is a pretty good resource.
The serious:
It’s all serious. Pelosi says we should approach the process with solemnity and while I’m not a Pelosi fan girl, she’s been right about many things lately.
It’s not a joke that the president (allegedly) has been calling, or has had his AG, Secretary of State and personal lawyer call, heads of state in order to get dirt on his political opponents.
It could be catastrophic to the US if Trump has managed to burn intelligence operatives in order to discredit the Mueller investigation.
The cabinet and justice department has been hollowed out. We’re looking at a collapsing government.
How long will Republicans wait before they hold Trump accountable?
I was remembering back to Watergate yesterday. I would rush home from school and watch the hearings. From what I recall, there was a long latency period before the scandal started to pick up momentum. When it did, and revelations were happening in greater quantity with greater speed, the push to impeach became unstoppable. I remember John Dean and his pretty wife in her neat blonde chignon sitting behind him. I remember the tapes, the 18 missing minutes, the Saturday Night Massacre. It all happened so fast.
This Whistleblower scandal has that feeling. All of the sudden, the wheels are coming off. We’re now past the point of no return. Barring some unforeseen event, Trump will be impeached. And this time, it looks like he won’t be able to get away with it.
The only question is whether he’ll resign, be forced out or take the country down with him.
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The Confluence 
Spot on, as usual:
IMO if they haven’t done so up to now, they never will. Therefore, the only solution is that they all have to go.
I am not a fan of my new rep Susan Wild (PA-7), and have sent many letter letting her know that she is acting maybe a hair to the left of where Charlie Dent (previous rep was) and that she needs to stop worrying about getting re-elected by courting the left(ish) side of the Republicans in the district. However, she will get my vote next November, as will the Democratic candidate for president. I just hope it’s not Biden (at this point I don’t think it could possibly be Sanders). I have already decided that if he is still in the running I will re-register as a Democrat to vote in the primary to bring him down and give my vote to the most progressive D who has a chance to beat him.
Sanders is done. He’s polling 3rd in NH a state where he should be winning.
At this point it’s either the GOP or the country. So the GOP has to be destroyed and it looks like Trump is going to take the GOP down with him.
Wow, both of you have focused on the party itself and not just Trump.
Is there a way for the GOP to get rid of Trump without taking itself down?
Not that I see right now. Also I wish the candidates would campaign against conservatism as much as they campaign against Trump. The entire GOP has tethered itself to Trump. It’s a choice they made and they are going to have to suffer the consequences.
I agree with Ga6th.
The Republicans, the elected Republicans not all members of the party, have gotten so tight with tRump that I see no other way out for them then totally dismantling the party. Do I think it will happen? Nah, just wishful thinking. If it were to happen who would be to blame? IMO Gingrich is the prime reason the Republican party has become so toxic. His party over country stance really struck a nerve in the party, and he has many people convinced that they have no choice but to vote Republican. The whole ‘I was born Republican’ meme has taken hold and that portion of the electorate simply goes in and pulls the R lever every time. BTW… first time I ever saw this ‘born Republican’ was in an LTE in the Beacon back in Newt’s heady days (mid 90s).
Like her or not, Pelosi has proven again that she is a master tactician and a wise leader. If she had folded to what many in her caucus wanted and started the impeachment inquiry after the Mueller report came out, the dems would have lost all credibility in their efforts to impeach trump and he would be home free. She avoided what would have been just another pissing contest which led nowhere and would have stunk up the House.
I remember how hard the freshmen class and many of her male colleagues fought against her being Speaker because they wanted “new blood”. Obviously, experience does count, especially now. She proved that and deserves our respect and thanks for keeping the dems from shooting themselves in the foot AGAIN.
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We’ve all seen a lot of politics. I think that we should all realize that unfortunately, the Republicans are ever-adaptable. They somehow got through Nixon and almost won the ’76 election with Ford, then won three more in a row. With the money and media they have, they can convince many people of almost anything, including that they never favored Trump, and now that “the party of Lincoln” (what a misnomer) will return to the “glory days’ of Reagan and Bush, with a new candidate. Every time I see or hear of Pat Toomey, I wonder how he managed to get re-elected in a state like PA, but he did. And so I do not expect what I most want politically, which is to have Republicans crash and burn as a party, and be unelectable for decades. The one thing that impeachment does not do, is inculpate the Republican Party for its soulless and cruel policies. Ultimately, we have to make those the centerpiece of this election, to do any lasting good for the country.
As to the immediate present, there is no doubt that Trump will be impeached. He will not be convicted, unless McConnnell is convinced that he cannot win an election, and that he also will cost McConnnell Senate control, maybe even his own seat in KY. This could happen, and Republicans would be covered in glory by the media for it, after three years of bankrolling and relentlessly supporting all of Trump;s policies. And most of the “Never Trumpers” would return to the fold, though not all.
I well remember the summer of 1974, too. Yes, Maureen Dean, they are still married! There are differences, of course. New information was learned from some helpful witnesses. I doubt that there will be more than one or two here, the rest will stonewall, force things to the courts. But hearings will have some impetus. Again, it is all up to the Senate, and we need at least 30 Republican votes (assuming we get Jones and Manchin). This only happens if it is called by McConnell and the Mercers, not out of individual Republicans moving one by one toward it. And unfortunately, Republicans almost always do everything based on self-aggrandizement and self-preservation, so that will be their only calculus here. But we would take it, because the present danger is so great. Not that it would be much less with Pence in there. I doubt that there is any way to impeach or indict Pence before the next election, though some Republican might wrest the nomination from him.
I’ve always liked Pelosi, except for her preferring Obama to Hillary, which was short-term successful for Democrats, but long-term disastrous. In her role as Speaker, she is perhaps unparalleled. I could not think of anyone better to engineer this process. When she retires, she will be greatly missed. Even Trump is intimidated by her. Hillary and Pelosi are the last of the old guard, classic liberals in the FDR tradition who remember the battles of the ’50’s and ’60’s.
My view no doubt tRump has been caught and will be impeached by the House. As for the Senate trial at a minimal won’t McConnel and Graham (this guy for sure he has been parroting the tRump Giuliani talking points demanding full investigations of Biden’s with no proof of their wrong doing) be required to recuse themselves from the jury pool for their past nod -wink statements actions supportive of the blackmailing of a foreign government, using my tax dollar, to dirty up the Democrat front runner as corrupt? Or will they goat rodeo tRumps Senate trial and clearly display that it was really the Republican Leadership all along, not just Trump, who believes they above the law and willing to do anything including placing our nations security at risk to retain republican power? I’m thinking the electorate may already be there and will flip the Senate.