George Bardmesser writes for the Federalist about U.S. House Speaker Nancy Pelosi‘s approach to impeachment of President Trump.
House Speaker Nancy Pelosi is a mediocre political strategist, but a very good tactician. We should not make the mistake of thinking that we understand something about the politics of impeachment over the Ukraine call that she does not.
Pelosi, who would love to remove Trump but has no realistic options for doing so, has had to thread the needle on impeachment for months. With roughly 200 House Democrats now supporting impeachment to various degrees (or perhaps 218, depending on whose head counter you trust), her options dwindled, and no longer included verbal gymnastics alone.
The latest Ukraine-related non-scandal is almost irrelevant for its lack of substance. This is not about substance. This is about Pelosi losing control of her caucus should she continue to resist impeachment, and Pelosi sensing a looming electoral disaster of monumental proportions should impeachment be launched outside the parameters she defines. …
… Anyone who is not a rabid Democratic partisan and gets through the five pages of single-spaced text of the transcript will walk away with a feeling that it’s all pretty boring nonsense. As impeachable offenses go, this one is a complete dud. So if Pelosi’s intent is to remove Trump from office for some specific (and real) offense, she is SOL. There is nothing in the transcript to hang her hat on.
