For two years, I have written columns about why the Democratic leadership had no intention of impeaching Donald Trump despite winning back the House based in part on that expectation by voters. The problem is that voters still think that the party is serious about impeachment even as the leadership delayed any real moves toward impeachment proceedings. Even with the vote yesterday to commence . . . well . . . something, the Democratic members disagreed on whether impeachment proceedings have begun. The effort still lacks the necessary focus, urgency, and legitimacy to be taken seriously. That point was vividly brought home by Speaker Nancy Pelosi in a bizarre and arbitrarily short press conference yesterday.
Pelosi shut down the press questions when reporters asked fairly innocuous questions about the vote and the impeachment process. Pelosi snapped back “I’m not answering any more questions about a possible inquiry, investigation, and the rest.”
In a particularly bizarre moment, Pelosi tried shaming the reporters by asking “Why is it that you are hung up with a word over here when lives are at stake over there?”
It probably has something to do with a vote ostensibly on impeachment that day and the presidency at issue.
