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Showing Original Post only (View all)One reason Pelosi's "hold back" tactic is brilliant [View all]
For weeks, some people have urged Speaker Nancy Pelosi to hold off sending Articles of Impeachment over to the Senate for trial. But most, if not all, of these people offered few, if any details for how Pelosi should do that. Their advice was for her to simply not send the Articles to the Senate.
But Pelosi didn't merely refuse to refer the Articles to the Senate. She did it in a way that boxes in McConnell and the Senate Republicans and also frames a narrative to the Democrats' favor and to the Republicans' detriment.
Had Pelosi just held off sending the Articles, her refusal to move the process forward would have been THE story. The Republicans would have been all over her with a full and enthusiastic assist from the media, who would have spent 24/7 jumping up and down demanding to know when Pelosi would send the Articles to the Senate. Pelosi's "recalcitrance" would have been the ONLY story. In the meantime, Republicans would continue their plan to screw up the process once they got the Articles - and they would have done so with barely any attention because the focus would have been all on Pelosi.
But she was too smart for this. She didn't just hold on to the Articles. She tied her action tight as a knot to the Republican plans to screw up the process, making release of the Articles completely contingent upon the Republicans showing their hand. In the law, we call that a "condition precedent": an event that must occur before a party is required to perform. In this instance, Pelosi made the Republicans revealing the process they plan to use for the trial the condition precedent to her releasing the Articles because, she's explained, she can't refer the Articles until she appoints managers and she can't appoint managers until she knows how the trial will proceed.
By doing it this way, Pelosi ensured that, not only is she not "the bad guy" in this transaction and is not derelict in her duty - since she wants to do her duty but can't do it until the Republicans do theirs - but she also guaranteed that the Republicans can't do their dirt in the dark as they usually do. Every time anyone talks about Pelosi refusing to refer the Articles, they MUST talk about why she's refusing, report on the Republicans refusal to reveal the process they plan to use, and discuss the Republicans' efforts to rig the trial.
As a result, the story is not just about Pelosi holding the Articles, but - and probably moreso - about the Republicans trying to conduct a sham trial.
This was very strategic, intricate boss move.