If impeachment vote was brought up today, how many votes would it get?

[kentuck]

My guess would be about 120 votes, about half of the Democratic caucus.

Until there is public testimony from Mueller, McGahn, or maybe Anne Donaldson, we cannot expect much different.

How do they get Mueller or McGahn to testify?

We can talk about impeachment but until there is some change in the status quo, about all we can do is keep it in the conversation.

[genxlib]

1. That would be a disaster

Doing impeachment and failing in the Senate is an issue that can be laid at the feet of the Republicans.

Trying to do impeachment and coming short of the votes to initiate it would be a disaster. Trump would declare victory and say that it was a radical faction trying to depose him.

I suspect this is why Pelosi is holding. Even if she wants to, she won't bring it to the floor until she has an ironclad whip total.

[suston96]

2. Wait a little bit longer.

Trump and his political cohorts will sink themselves and the impeachment inquiry may not even be necessary.

[kentuck]

3. That is not out of the realm of possibilities..

Their lies and dirty deeds will follow them forever.

More and more will be exposed until there is no more patience.

Republicans will look back and wish they had done something when they had a chance. In my opinion, the voters will dispose of them in a ready fashion in the next election.

[customerserviceguy]

4. Maybe, maybe not

There are three groups of people in this country, one group believes every scintilla of scandal about Trump and his administration, and wants them all gone forever, at least out of office if not actually in prison. The second group absolutely refuses to either believe or act on even the most solidly grounded accusations of scandal.

The third group is the mushy middle, the folks who decide who to vote for the weekend before the election. They're just not paying attention, and they want it that way, they hate having to think about politics. They're suffering scandal fatigue. More investigation is not going to change anything about what the three groups feel.

[StarfishSaver]

5. I think you're generally right

Last edited Tue Jun 18, 2019, 09:28 AM - Edit history (1)

I talk to a lot of people, including lukewarm Republicans (as compared with diehard Trump supporters) and non-obsessed Democrats, and they look at all of this as confusing background noise.

And most Democrats I know who aren't activists or as obsessed as I am aren't demanding impeachment. They want him gone, but know impeachment won't do it so they're focusing on voting him out.

I do think there's room to move them, but it's going to take a lot more evidence than has been pulled out yet. The Mueller Report hasn't convinced them and they're tired of hearing about it. And they're not interested in watching Democrats gather the evidence in real time - they're not going to sit down and watch hearings, whether it's called an impeachment inquiry or something else (and calling it "impeachment" isn't going to make them suddenly interested). But once much more evidence is revealed and put together in a clear narrative, I think some of them will listen and be convinced.

[customerserviceguy]

6. No one

is under the illusion that Trump is a good guy who is intelligent, even his supporters know he's a buffoon at best. A vote for Trump was a vote for a wrecking ball to the system, and he's delivered.

"More evidence" will just convince them that he's destroying the system, and they like that just fine. The mushy middle must be nearly catatonic right now with all of the investigation coverage.

[StarfishSaver]

7. You're right - more evidence won't convince Trump supporters

It will only make them like him more. But I do think there are some Democrats in the "mushy middle" who can be convinced. But they're going to need more than the Mueller Report - which haven't read, aren't going to read and no matter how cleverly it's packaged and communicated on television, they're not going to pay attention to it. But they will pay attention once they think the evidence has reached a critical mass. The process of building it to a critical mass needs to start outside of the impeachment process since if the impeachment process starts without it, these people will just see it as more Washington infighting and tune it out altogether.

[customerserviceguy]

8. Again

you can lead a horse to water, but you can't make him drink. The mushy middle has had their psyche attacked ever since the election, and really, before as well. No matter how you grab them by the hair and say, "Now, look at THIS!!" you will not get them to really take it all in.

Believe me, they've got folks in their lives that did that with Benghazi, Hillary's emails, etc., and their defense mechanism is to just tune it all out. Swing voters vote for whoever scares them the least. If we keep positive, and the Democratic candidates toss out ideas rather than sling mud, we have a chance of scaring them less than Trump does.

But, we have shown a tendency to crawl right in the mud with the Trumpsters, on the ground they want us to stoop to. We kept the high ground when they chanted, "Lock her up!", and some of our candidates and certainly our Speaker have gone in that direction.

[Cosmocat]

14. BINGO

Been telling people this forever.

This is not a two sides ( 50/50 ) country.

We have 1/3 us of with conscience and a genuine concern for proper government.

We have 1/3 that has been sucked into being sheep to the GOP, which moves them wherever they want.

We have 1/3 that profess to be in the "middle" but tend to hear all the screaming from the right, and buy into it more or less.

The primary fault of democrats is simply just not fighting near hard enough.

Its like a harlem globetrotters game - the GOP dribbles the ball between the legs of the Ds staning their pretending to play defense for an easy layup.

[customerserviceguy]

15. I'm with you up until the last third

They perceive both sides as screaming over nothing. They don't make up their minds who to vote for until the weekend before the election, therefore, they are not paying attention to any of it.

Fighting harder is not going to work with these people. They've already got "Mueller Report Numbness Syndrome", and Barr knew that when he released his summary. They perked up their ears just long enough to hear, "No obstruction, no collusion," then went back to seeing the new acts on "America's Got Talent". t Any further efforts to wring something out of the Mueller Report will just look like a desperate game of playing politics. Impeachment talk is "here we go again, I remember how that whole Bill Clinton impeachment thing turned out," for most all of them.

If we focus on being positive, sane, and rational, and don't try to sell pie-in-the-sky proposals that even we know won't fly, we'll get them back the next time.

[Bettie]

9. So, half of the Democratic caucus

is A-OK with Trump? They don't even want an inquiry?

Lovely.

[StarfishSaver]

10. No o e has said they don't want an inquiry and they definitely haven't said

they're A-OK with Trump.

Not wanting to open a formal impeachment inquiry is not the same as not wanting an inquiry. There are numerous inquiries and investigations happening right now and I have yet to hear a single Democratic Member of Congress object to any of them. In fact, they all seem to fully support them.

So, please don't engage in the "if you don't want to open an impeachment inquiry right now, you must not think Trump has done anything wrong" false equivalence game.

[Bettie]

11. In the end, it doesn't matter

if we win the election, people will say lack of action was what clinched it.

If we lose, then those of us who wanted an inquiry will be at fault, for rocking the boat.

Seen it before, that's how it works.

[Laura PourMeADrink]

12. Don't fall for the "don't impeach yet (maybe)argument", B ! Bet there were champagne corks popping

When we didn’t come out on day one, outraged, saying trump’s actions were impeachable. Then they instituted plan B...stall, hold everything up in court, defy subpoenas. Working like an utter charm. Trump et al 2-0.

So, we are now stuck in this drawn out limbo. Public has already said, “well, there was nothing to see there. A prosecutorial team worked for two years, and it wasn’t enough for the Dems to immediately say...impeachable actions. I am moving back to watching the “Voice.” More than half of the House either too afraid of defying the leader or losing their seat.

Who in the hell knows what our plan C should be. It’s such a cluster. Obstruction of justice - no biggie. Jeez at the bare minimum censure the MF and move on to figuring out some way some Herculean moment to get the Senate to help you protect the 2020 election.

[Bettie]

13. Thanks

seriously, it's good to see others are frustrated as well.

Our side really does need to get a point or two on the board though....a zinger here and there isn't enough.

[Bradical79]

16. I think the OP is vastly underestimating the number

Of course a sudden vote for impeachment without the impeachment inquiry process is something that wouldn't happen. It's not really about convincing half the causus that the impeachment process should formally start, it's about Nancy Pelosi being a roadblock to the House doing their Constitutional duty.