Congressional Democrats will receive harsh complaints from constituents frustrated by lack of movement on impeachment as they return to their home states for the six-week August recess, a panel on MSNBC explained on Friday.
Guest hosting "The Last Word," anchor Joy Reid interviewed SiriusXM host Danielle Moodie-Mills about the dynamics following former special counsel Robert Mueller's public testimony Congress.
"Does this end up working for the Democrats politically? They’re getting out of town for a multi-week recess. They put in something that they don’t want to call an impeachment inquiry for whatever reason. Have they solved their problem?" Reid asked.
"They are their problem -- so, no, they haven’t solved it at all. I think the conversation around semantics matters to the American people. When we use terms like impeachment, it gives them a sense of gravitas to the situation that we are currently in," Moodie-Mills explained.
"When we move into an impeachment inquiry, that means that something very serious has happened and compromised our Constitution and compromised the office of the presidency. Americans understand that differently, right? And so words here actually matter and this is what Republicans are always so good at and Democrats constantly struggle," she continued.
"So where’s the action here? So words matter and their action matters. The fact that Nancy Pelosi also is not pointing to her members and saying, 'You know what, you’re going home, each and every member of the Democratic Party needs to be holding town hall meetings on impeachment the way that Justin Amash did,' because that matters," she argued.
"Does the strength of an impeachment inquiry depend on it being immediate? Meaning, you say you’re launching an investigation and then something happens right away, or does the five or six weeks in the middle where they could be pummeled by their base, in a sense could that actually help impeachment?" Reid asked.
"I think that showing them being pummeled by their base does help impeachment, because it shows that the people actually care and are paying attention -- which is what I believe that most people do," Moodie-Mills replied. "The ones that I talk to on my show, they tell me that they care, they want to know why their members are not standing up for the Constitution. It looks like political theater and an act right now, instead of an act of outrage about what’s happening in the White House."
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