House Democrats so far have been reluctant to initiate impeachment proceedings against President Donald Trump, in part because they fear it would create a backlash that will hurt their chances of winning back the White House in 2020.
However, Republican strategist Cheri Jacobus argues in a Daily Beast editorial that the current media consensus about the political downsides to impeaching Trump are entirely wrong.
In fact, argues Jacobus, impeachment hearings can actually help Democrats heading into 2020, especially if Democrats are able to force former Trump White House officials to recount under oath how he ordered them to commit crimes.
"These individuals, who each were trusted Trump allies and darlings of MAGA world to varying degrees, recounting under oath on live television how the president asked them to break the law, will be even more powerful than reading the Mueller report itself, and with viewership in the stratosphere," she writes. "It would make Super Bowl ratings look like basic local cable by comparison."
The reason to hold these live televised hearings, she says, is that the majority of Americans simply do not have the time to read special counsel Robert Mueller's entire report on Russian interference in the 2016 presidential election. Seeing Trump officials like former White House counsel Don McGahn repeat under oath that Trump ordered them to obstruct the Mueller probe, however, would change that.
"Impeaching Trump in the House but falling short of the 67 Senate votes needed to convict could be even more politically beneficial to Democrats," she argues. "Trump would be exposed and damaged, and lose badly in 2020. There would be no President Mike Pence and no pardon, just the prospect of prosecution from a Department of Justice once again concerned with providing it."
