General Discussion
In reply to the discussion: To those who say that impeachment is not necessary because the voters can decide in 2020 [View all]better
(884 posts)Obviously we can pass something in the House, and the Senate might fall in line, but would Trump veto it? And if he didn't, would his administration actually enforce it? Unfortunately, this is where we see that while separation of powers does offer some crucial protections, it also has some serious drawbacks when there's an unfit executive and inadequate support in Congress to override a veto, even if we can actually get some things to the president's desk. See our involvement in Yemen.
I agree completely that we need to do something serious, and urgently, to stop election interference and respond to what I do consider an overt act of war by Russia, but I don't see it as an "if not" proposition. I want both. And in all honesty, the Constitution demands both.u,
It is true that we can't count on the Senate voting to convict Trump if we impeach him any more than we can count on them to allow a vote on any legislation. But legislation that fails in the Senate makes the news for one cycle, and then largely gets forgotten, and it generally doesn't get much public attention at all at any point in the process unless it's something of massive interest like their attempts to repeal the ACA.
Impeachment, on the other hand, is different. What comes of impeachment proceedings, both electorally and in terms of future action by DOJ, is not actually dependent upon the Senate, only whether or not the president is removed from office by the Senate as a result of the impeachment process is. Impeachment investigations will receive massive attention, getting the facts out to a sizable audience.
I don't fear any massive backlash coming our way at the polls. Given the weight of the evidence we already know about and the seriousness of the matters at issue, I expect that if the Senate does not convict, it will be the Republicans who face the brunt of public backlash at the polls. As was pointed out a few times yesterday, we're not talking about lying about a blowjob, here.