Impeaching Donald Trump Would Be Media-Driven Idiocy
There is no upside for Democrats.
Calls to impeach President Donald Trump started almost immediately upon his ascension to the White House.
They’ve only grown in pitch since then as the anti-Trump movement has chewed through one bombshell after another—the resignation of Michael Flynn, the firing of James Comey, the Stormy Daniels’ saga, numerous developments in Robert Mueller’s investigation of Russian collusion, and so on. Now that Mueller’s released his report and had his public say, the calls for impeachment have devolved into semi-hysterical screams coming with increased frequency and urgency.
In the face of these pseudo-tantrums, there are three crucial facts to know about impeaching Trump. The first two of which are (or should be) self-evident:
- There is no chance the Republican-controlled Senate votes to remove the President from office so any impeachment effort will be largely performative.
- Support for impeachment basically breaks down along party lines with a large majority of Democrats favoring it and a large majority of GOPers opposing it.
- Independent voters appear relatively ambivalent on the issue, but lean closer to the Republican position.
Based on these three facts, there is no upside for the Democrats in impeachment. It will not remove Trump from office directly and it will not do so indirectly via the 2020 election. It won’t animate any voters to the anti-Trump cause because, as stated, it is only a major issue for those who already have strong feelings about him. Those in favor of impeaching will vote against Trump in 2020 and those against it will vote for him. There is virtually nothing that could change their minds between now and November ’20. We know this because public sentiment has effectively been static since soon after he became POTUS.
Meanwhile, there is no indication non-partisan voters care much about impeachment and what evidence does exist indicates those voters lean against it. Consequently, a realistic best-case scenario in the event of a Democratic-led effort to impeach would see negligible impact on these voters whereas as a more likely scenario would see the donkeys lose some all in the name of political theater.
Sure, it’s possible the Dems could uncover some damning piece of evidence that Mueller and his cracker-jack team failed to dislodge, and it dramatically alters public perception of Trump. Similarly, it’s possible the data is wrong and independent voters would pivot away from Donald should he be placed under the klieg lights of impeachment hearings.
Possible is not probable, though, so it’s fine and dandy for politicians like Alexandra Ocasio-Cortez, Maxine Waters, or others representing hard-left constituents to talk about removing Trump from office. There is no risk of such chatter eroding their support. Likewise, Democratic candidates for the party’s 2020 presidential nomination risk very little jumping aboard the impeachment bandwagon; they have to woo the far left in anticipation of the primaries.
And there’s one other, quite-vocal group for whom impeachment hearings make perfect sense: the mainstream media.
After two years of Trump playing godsend to the MSM’s quest for ratings and profits, things have taken a turn for the worse in the wake of the Mueller Report falling flat. MSNBC and CNN are in a free-fall, and even Fox News has suffered compared to last year. Put simply, the mainstream media needs another big story to both boost ratings and distract from their sensationalizing of the Mueller investigation.
Impeaching a divisive President of the United States would seem to fit that bill.
Additionally, the MSM also needs to draw blood against Trump. Election consequences be damned.
Remember, most voices in the mainstream media have been decrying and delegitimizing Donald Trump for almost four years now. Ever since he emerged as a serious contender for the 2016 Republican nomination, outlets like ABC, CBS, NBC, CNN, The New York Times, The Washington Post, Politico, and others have pulled out every stop to first deny him the Oval Office, then batter his administration once it was sworn in. There has been good journalism done in the name of the cause, but there’s also been a lot of bad journalism. Lines have been crossed repeatedly that clearly demonstrate the hard, often-justifiable bias against Trump.
Yet what does the media have to show for all their anti-Trump effort?
First, the Orange Combover won the GOP nomination. Then, he won the presidency. Next, he started making headway on his campaign promises, the economy took off, and the world didn’t end in nuclear hellfire. Now, it looks like Trump might win a second term in office.
All while the media sacrifices long-standing norms to drive Donald from office.
Throw in his use of Twitter and Donald Trump has done few things more effectively than marginalizing the mainstream media and reducing its credibility. That’s a hell of a motive for payback and the degradation of a successful impeachment by the House of Representatives would go a long way toward paying it back. If the MSM can goose its ratings and make some coin in the process, all the better.
Of course, the Democratic Party doesn’t have the luxury of a task as simple as shaming Trump for profit. It’s gotta win elections.
Democrats without the luxury of strongly progressive bases face a considerably more complicated mission when considering the removal of President Trump against future elections. Those Democrats need every vote to survive, including support from non-partisan voters who might be further repulsed by the hyper-partisan spectacle of impeachment proceedings. Nor is there any guarantee that the aforementioned Democratic candidates for POTUS in ’20 can win back any impeachment-inspired defections.
All of which is why Nancy Pelosi and other moderate Democrats are pumping the brakes on such talk. The questions remains, though, will the media will let them?
