What are the Democrats going to do the day after the Republican Senate acquits Donald Trump on the articles of impeachment? This is perhaps the most important question the Democrats need to address and so far it does not look like they have an answer.
Donald Trump has done a lot of bad things as president that might rise to the level of treason, bribery, or high crimes and misdemeanors. Leveraging US foreign policy interests for personal election advantage with Ukraine is one example. So is obstruction of Congress, eleven counts of possible obstruction of justice documented in the Mueller report, and violations of the Emoluments clause. Any or all of them might be impeachable offenses, yet barring the unexpected, the House will settle on abuse of power and obstruction of Congress as the two articles of impeachment it will send over to the Senate for trial.
Again, barring the unexpected, the Senate will acquit. What then? What have the Democrats gained or accomplished?
There are several arguments supporting impeachment. One is that if the Democrats do not impeach it will embolden this president to continue to corrupt the 2020 elections with other impermissible acts. Or that the failure to impeach will embolden future presidents to do what Trump has done, or even worse. Maybe, but what is an acquittal going to say? Does the acquittal vindicate Trump, leaving both him and future presidents justified in terms of doing what he is already do, but now with the stamp of approval in terms of acquittal?
Maybe impeachment will shift public opinion against the president in the 2020 elections? However, Trump already lost the popular vote in 2016 but won in the electoral college and that could happen again in 2020. Public opinion does not really matter, especially in a few swing states, and even if it does matter, there is little indication so fr that the impeachment process has moved it.
Maybe impeachment is meant to deter Trump? But does anyone really think impeachment, especially with acquittal, is a deterrent to Trump?
Maybe impeachment is for the history books, staining Trump as only the third president in history to be impeached and tried in the Senate?
Maybe all of these are valid reasons, but the bottom line is that Trump is going to be acquitted and the Democrats need a plan for what they are going to do and say the day after this happens.
The real prize for the Democrats is getting Trump out of office and that means defeating him in the 2020 election. Maybe impeachment fits into that plan but it is not obvious how and instead it may be a distraction to that larger prize. Do the impeachment and acquittal put Trump’s fundraising into overdrive? Does it energize his base to vote in larger percentages than in the previous election, especially in the critical swing states of Wisconsin, Michigan, Pennsylvania, North Carolina, and perhaps Minnesota? Or does the impeachment strategy leverage vulnerable Republican Senators to vote to acquit Trump and thereby enhance the Democrats’ possibility of winning control of the US Senate?
All of the above are good questions and so far there seems little discussion about what is next for the Democrats in terms of how they see the impeachment ultimately leading to the ouster of Donald Trump from the presidency in 2020.
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