What Nancy Pelosi and Jerry Nadler are really doing right now with Donald Trump’s impeachment
Madam Speaker Nancy Pelosi is trying everyone’s patience. Jerrold Nadler seems to be slow-walking subpoena enforcement. People are fed up, and they want action. But there is method to this madness. And the big picture here isn’t just Donald Trump.
It’s the entire Republican Party. The GOP is now so filthy with Russian money that getting rid of Trump is only treating a symptom, not a cure. The reason Pelosi and Nadler are being very thoughtful about their approach is they want to see those Trump tax returns; they want to hear Mueller testify. Nothing is going to happen until those possibilities play out, and right now, Trump’s financial records are an appeals court ruling away from being turned over to the House.
Pelosi and Nadler believe something is so egregious in those tax returns, even the Republicans will be afraid of what will happen to them if they try to defend him. They believe Mueller’s testimony will be so damaging that the Senate Republicans will finally move toward impeachment. Even if the Republicans don’t, Pelosi and Nadler are betting that the GOP’s defense of Trump will become so offensive to the average voter that it will destroy the entire Republican Party from the inside out.
Let’s hope they’re right. It would be naive for them to think anything short of Trump actually shooting someone on Fifth Avenue would do it, and I don’t even think that would. Republicans have defended pedophiles, so what’s defending murder? Especially when their Dear Leader is all about doing their bidding. Pelosi and Nadler know this is a long haul. Their approach is judicious, considering the historical precedent they are setting. But no one can be blamed for losing patience over it.
TR Kenneth is the author of the thriller, A ROOM FULL OF NIGHT. You can read all about her at trkenneth.com and on Twitter