Does impeachment begin now? The case for building the end of Trump's presidency before ...

[DonViejo]

Does impeachment begin now? The case for building the end of Trump’s presidency before it even starts

Democrats must resist the GOP's noxious legislative agenda — and plan for impeachment at the same time

HEATHER DIGBY PARTON

If anyone thought that the new Congress might be a moderating force on the Donald Trump wrecking crew, the latest news from Capitol Hill isn’t reassuring. This headline for a story by David Weigel in the Washington Post says it all: Claiming mandate, GOP Congress lays plans to propel sweeping conservative agenda.

When the 115th Congress begins this week, with Republicans firmly in charge of the House and Senate, much of that legislation will form the basis of the most ambitious conservative policy agenda since the 1920s. And rather than a Democratic president standing in the way, a soon-to-be-inaugurated Donald Trump seems ready to sign much of it into law.

After a huge public outcry this week, even Trump questioned the timing of the new Congress’ first initiative, which was to roll back certain ethics procedures. (He wasn’t actually against the rollback, just thought it was premature.) There are also some encouraging signs that repealing the Affordable Care Act may not be quite as easy as Republicans had hoped, which could tangle them up with their followers all over again. If they can be similarly stopped or slowed from enacting the rest of their agenda, we might just get through this thing.

As Weigel reports, however, the larger agenda has been in the planning stages for a long time:

In 2012, Americans for Tax Reform’s Grover Norquist described the ideal president as “a Republican with enough working digits to handle a pen” and “sign the legislation that has already been prepared.” In 2015, when Senate Republicans used procedural maneuvers to undermine a potential Democratic filibuster and vote to repeal the health-care law, it did not matter that President Obama’s White House stopped them: As the conservative advocacy group Heritage Action put it, the process was “a trial run for 2017, when we will hopefully have a President willing to sign a full repeal bill.”

more
http://www.salon.com/2017/01/04/does-impeachment-begin-now-the-case-for-building-the-end-of-trumps-presidency-before-it-even-starts/

[brooklynite]

1. Talking about impeachment is beyond stupid

If it's successful, all you've done is replace Trump with Pence. If it fails, you've "acquitted" Trump off all charges against him in the eyes of most voters.