The House Is Talking Impeachment

Democrats are divided on the issue of impeaching President Trump.

While many members of the House of Representatives on the left are talking impeachment, Nancy Pelosi (D-CA), the Speaker of the House, and many other Democrats are warning against rushing forward with impeachment proceedings.

I would like to know what there is to impeach. Only high crimes and treasonous actions can be considered impeachable offenses.

What has President Trump done that warrants impeachment?

Nevertheless, Twitter is loaded with posts from MSM figures and lefty pundits sharing the news of House Dems calling for impeachment:

House Majority @LeaderHoyer just told me : “Based on what we have seen to date, going forward on impeachment is not worthwhile at this point. Very frankly, there is an election in 18 months and the American people will make a judgement,”

— Dana Bash (@DanaBashCNN) April 18, 2019

And those on the right rushed to call out the absurdity:

Steny Hoyer should be removed from House leadership. https://t.co/S6fF5BAcXH

— Matt McDermott (@mattmfm) April 18, 2019

Instead we get Hoyer’s nonsense and a raft of statements that ignore the abundant collusion documented in the report. Because they’re scared the truth might lead them to impeachment. It’s pathetic. It lets the country down. And it reinforces Trump’s sense of his own impunity.

— Brian Beutler (@brianbeutler) April 18, 2019

Now some Democrats want to leap head-first into an impeachment rabbit hole despite the entire impetus for Mueller's investigation being thoroughly and resolutely debunked. The self-defeating delusion never ends

— Michael Tracey (@mtracey) April 18, 2019

Many conspiracists and truthers out there are apparently under the mistaken impression that their 3-year mania has somehow been vindicated by the Mueller Report, when the reality is the exact opposite: it’s more pathetically untenable than ever. But enjoy your ongoing fever dream

— Michael Tracey (@mtracey) April 18, 2019

Those on the far, progressive left seem to be the loudest voices calling for the President’s impeachment to begin as soon as possible.

According to The Nation:

When it was becoming clear that Richard Nixon would need to be held to account for the high crimes and misdemeanors of the Watergate era—including his many obstructions of justice—the youngest and newest members of Congress stepped up. Texas Democrat Barbara Jordan, a voting-rights advocate who had been elected to the House in 1972 at the age of 36, joined the Judiciary Committee and in 1974 challenged her colleagues to recognize that “If the impeachment provision in the Constitution of the United States will not reach the offenses charged here, then perhaps that 18th-century Constitution should be abandoned to a 20th-century paper shredder!”

New York Democrat Elizabeth Holtzman, a 31-year-old advocate for women’s rights who upset a Democratic incumbent in a 1972 primary, joined the same committee and delivered the message (as she later recalled) that “Presidents cannot block, tamper with, and destroy the machinery of justice that is aimed at them. If they do, it is at their peril. They face impeachment, removal from office, even imprisonment.”

While many senior members of the House, encumbered by the learned caution that so frequently weakens the will of the Congress, were slow to recognize the need to act, these newly elected House members refused to compromise their oaths of office. They had sworn to “support and defend the Constitution of the United States against all enemies, foreign and domestic,” and they intended to “bear true faith and allegiance” to that commitment.

This is one of the many reasons it matters to refresh the membership of the Congress. Experience is valuable. But so, too, is an exuberant embrace of the duty to check and balance executives who abuse their power.

After Tlaib mentioned her impeachment resolution, other progressive voices like Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez rushed to voice their support.

According to Fox News:

Hours after the Department of Justice on Thursday released a redacted version of Special Counsel Robert Mueller’s report on the Russia investigation, Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez committed to adding her name to an impeachment resolution aimed at President Trump.

The New York Democrat revealed her intentions on Twitter, vowing to sign onto the resolution put forward by fellow freshman lawmaker Rep. Rashida Tlaib, D-Mich., last month.

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The proposal calls on the House Judiciary Committee to probe whether or not the president committed any offenses that rise to the level of impeachment.

In announcing her decision, Ocasio-Cortez addressed the report, writing it “is clear in pointing to Congress’ responsibility in investigating obstruction of justice by the President.”

“While I understand the political reality of the Senate + election considerations, upon reading this DoJ report, which explicitly names Congress in determining obstruction, I cannot see a reason for us to abdicate from our constitutionally mandated responsibility to investigate,” she wrote in a follow-up tweet.

And here is the tweet from AOC:

While I understand the political reality of the Senate + election considerations, upon reading this DoJ report, which explicitly names Congress in determining obstruction, I cannot see a reason for us to abdicate from our constitutionally mandated responsibility to investigate.

— Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (@AOC) April 18, 2019

Feeling dazed and confused yet?