Thursday, December 19, 2019

I've been on twitter recently, and I've been noticing that some people are getting a little bit too jubilant about this impeachment. 
So let's keep this in perspective.
Whatever happens, Trump has won.  You can mock him for being only the 3rd President to ever get impeached if you want, but he is still a U.S. President.
It's like if the Hamburglar got impeached.  Sure, you can be happy about the fact that the Hamburglar's getting impeached, but Geez Louise how did we ever get to a point where the Hamburglar is President?
Now, don't get me wrong, as I've said before, impeachment needed to be done.  Even if it is doomed to fail in the Senate, it needed to be done.  Some sort of message needed to be sent that this kind of behavior is unacceptable.
But, if it fails in the Senate (and all indications are that it will) then this will not materially affect Trump in any way. 
Also, the fact that not one Republican supported impeachment is a real worrying sign of just how bad things have gotten.
So what is everyone so happy about?  If this is treated as just some sort of symbolic victory to gloat about to the Republicans, then it will just get them madder and increase polarization in this country, and will likely increase Trump supporter's turnout in 2020. 
To re-iterate: I'm not saying (like some strategists have) that impeachment shouldn't have been done because it will increase Trump's 2020 chance.  Impeachment needed to be done.  But it should be treated as a solemn affair, not as an opportunity to dunk on Republicans or gloat about the misfortunes of our political rivals.

2 comments:

Whisky Prajer said...

Yeah, I agree. There is absolutely nothing about this unfolding nightmare that is "good news" -- for anybody.

Joel Swagman said...

Makes you worry about the next few weeks, doesn't it?