It Is Long Past Time For Democrats To Start Pounding The Impeachment Drum

Politics

from the dormant-doormat dept

The big deal today is Democrats’ threatened capitulation to the GOP on the continuing resolution to keep the government open—but entirely on Trump’s terms, no matter who it bankrupts (hello, DC police and fire departments!). But the larger point made here stands, because the cowardice on display in this budget showdown is the cowardice that been keeping Democrats from doing what they should have been doing all along—finally saying NO to Trump—and enough is enough. If we’re going to survive it’s time for Democrats to start taking a stand. On the budget, on DOGE, on EVERYTHING.

Someone asked a ranking House Democrat several weeks ago whether they would float impeachment articles against Trump, to which the answer was something along the lines of, “Find me a few Republicans and I will.” I’m not sure which one it was—perhaps Raskin?—but the fact that it is so hard to locate the comment, and nothing else on the impeachment topic is readily surfacing either, indicates why it was the wrong answer, one now lost to the sands of time instead of serving as the opening volley of a serious campaign to do what needs to be done and finally remove Trump from the office he has been abusing from the moment he entered it.

Because the question is not whether impeachment can yet succeed (although in a sane Congress there would be no question). The question is whether and when Democrats are going to collectively put their foot down and finally say no to the lawless, unconstitutional sledgehammer Trump and his associates have been taking to our federal government and constitutional order. The question is how much are they going to allow to be destroyed—how many lives are they going to allow to be destroyed—before they finally say enough is enough. How much scientific discovery will be squandered, disease spread, expertise ignored, government services gutted, agencies dismantled, public servants fired, infrastructure vandalized, contracts breached, resources wasted, bigotry celebrated, voices censored, persecutions pursued, civil rights violated, human beings disappeared, rule of law upended, national security compromised, military readiness forfeited, veterans betrayed, allies attacked, alliances trashed, wars threatened, businesses bankrupted, taxes uncollected, corruption enabled, and economies crashed before the national Democratic party shows up to be the party against all these things.

So far some individual Democrats have been able to make a piecemeal show of displeasure or even resistance at particular Trump-generated disasters, but the national party as a whole has done little to suggest that it even understands the problem, let alone demonstrate willingness to do what it takes to actually solve it. It can’t be left up to the courts to fix—while the litigation has helped mitigate some of the damage Trump has caused, it only does a bit at a time, only after the damage has already accrued, and generally only because other people marshaled the resources together to bring these challenges. The only way to truly stem the seemingly endless tide of malfeasance is to cut it off at the source. But Democrats’ refusal to even talk about doing the one thing their own offices allow them to do to stop all the madness turns them into a party that stands for all these things they refuse to use their own power as elected representatives to meaningfully oppose.

By instead largely proceeding as though everything were normal politics as usual, the party has been telling the GOP, the nation, the world, and even Trump himself that everything is fine when everything is most definitely not fine. Their complicity makes the Democrats even worse than useless, because their passive, cowardly acquiescence, if not outright surrender, to Trump’s lawless power only enables and exacerbates the harm he causes by effectively giving it their blessing to continue. And it also hangs out to dry all those who would have been ready to stand against him, dissipating and demoralizing the civic resistance the country so desperately needs, plus essentially abandoning those who voted them into office at the moment when their leadership is the most needed to protect them.

The kindest view of the Democrats’ refusal to respond in the way the moment calls for is that they are waiting for something to happen before starting to pursue it, but it’s not clear what they are waiting for, or what could be worth the cost of the wait as daily Trump destroys more and more. And it is a serious miscalculation to wait. For one thing, it gives him a chance to inflict an amount of harm that may be irreversible, or at least prohibitively expensive to try. Worse, it gives him time to dig in so that even if impeachment does finally come to pass he will be in a position to try to resist removal. Impeachment with removal is of course a big deal—historically unprecedented in America—and perhaps it will take time for enough people to get used to the idea before it can happen. But this historical inertia is why it is important to start pounding the drum now, to start to get everyone acclimated to the idea, so that hopefully it can at last happen before it is too late.

And because the waiting misapprehends the political calculus. So far, Democrats seem to be pinning everything on the electorate being so disgusted with the GOP that it votes them all out in 2026, but Democrats don’t seem to be accounting for how disgusted everyone is getting with them for standing idly by, letting so much fall apart in the meantime. There is a ton of fear and outrage out there in the country, and a great deal of it is directed at Democrats for being so unwilling to lead through this moment as a united opposition. If Democrats are going to be able to count on anyone’s votes in 2026, or ever again, then they will need to start showing some respect for those who already elected them to be stewards of our republic and demonstrate that they are worthy of that trust.  And finally, finally, take a stand.

There is only one way this crisis ends: with either the premature end of Trump’s presidency, or of America itself. Yet as long as the Democrats do nothing to advance the former through impeachment, they tell everyone that they are fine inviting the latter. But if that’s the fate they welcome then they have no business being in government either, and the public is starting to notice. It is bad enough that the GOP is unable to stand against Trump, but when both major parties are lost then so is our democracy. It is time for Democrats to finally wake up to reality of what is going on and get in the game to fix it.

In sum, removing Trump from office is the only cure for this disease, and if there is to still be a political way to achieve it there is no time to lose pursuing it. Even if the cancer cannot be excised right away it is still important to start laying the groundwork for it, and now, for several reasons.

For one thing, it would send a needed sign that Democrats at last understand the assignment. The argument here is also not that impeachment articles need to be formally introduced yet. The object is to get to the point where they viably can. Even just getting articles drafted to be displayed and discussed is an important start, because by putting impeachment on the table it tells everyone what we are working toward. And that messaging is important if we are going to get everyone needed on board so that it can finally actually happen.

For Congress, beginning to talk about impeachment begins the project of cultivating the political support it needs to pull it off. Even if there are not yet the votes for it, it starts the process of collecting them. As the political pressure builds it can then prod Republicans (plus wayward Democrats) to grow a spine and rethink their resistance to such a move. Indeed, it is even a carrot for those more malleable and moderate in the GOP frustrated by how Trump has angered their own constituencies, because all they would need to do, if they want the pain to stop, is just join the Democrats and finally get the impeachment done. With impeachment finally on the table everyone could now see a light at the end of the tunnel offering some relief from this mess. But with the GOP too enfeebled to resist Trump’s spell it will have to be up to the Democrats to provide the path forward.

For the public, when Democrats get busy on impeachment it means people can finally direct their energies toward the real danger to democracy and not have to keep expending so much effort pushing forward those recalcitrant leaders who should instead have been pulling everyone forward. By even just getting articles drafted for the public to read Democrats would be at last telling an outraged America that they are not alone in their appalled, terrified horror. It would also tell them that Democrats have their backs. Which matters because not only would it help organize needed resistance—right now the public is as splintered as Democrats have been, having to fight each Trump-made crisis separately, but what if we could all be united in pushing for the one thing that will get all of these horrors at last to stop—but because it would help generate the groundswell of support Democrats will need to ultimately uproot Trump. Already more of the public is ready to fight for our country than Democrats seem to realize, but we’re all in a holding pattern waiting to find out if the fight is finally on. Once impeachment becomes the project, we’ll all know that it is.

For the world, moving toward impeachment gives some indication that the cavalry might finally be coming. It might take a while to get here, but right now it looks like there is none being organized at all, and Democrats’ silence on this front has been speaking volumes. How other nations respond to the destructive force currently occupying the White House will vary depending on whether it appears to be something America itself wants. If the rest of the world sees the country as a victim of Trump’s tyranny our friends will stand by and help support us in our hour of difficulty, ready to greet us on the other side. But when submission to this malevolence instead appears to be what we are affirmatively choosing, what friend could possibly afford to remain by our side. Democrats’ refusal so far to meaningfully push back to save our democracy keeps conveying that we don’t think it’s worth fighting for anymore, not even for ourselves. The world is receiving that message loud and clear and will react accordingly. So if we don’t want to be treated as a pariah nation, Democrats need to start showing some sign that America is still in the democracy business by doing what it takes to preserve it.

And, for Trump, constructively threatening impeachment would send the message that the clock is ticking. While such information could in theory cause him to act more recklessly and autocratically to try to pre-emptively stop Congress from effecting his removal, doing nothing has itself been inviting him to keep upping his destructive game anyway by teaching him that he’s immune from all political consequences. But such a message is the last thing that Democrats should be sending. It is important to make Trump realize that by acting so aggressively he weakens his hold on the office he so desperately wants to keep. Too many Democrats have been, inexplicably, treating him like a business-as-usual president, but the more they want to return to politics as normal the more important that Trump start to face the normal sort of consequences that a rogue president is supposed to face. By shielding him from them we keep handing him the kingdom he thinks he rules, one where the top autocrat can act with impunity. If that’s not the system we want to live in, then it needs to stop being the system we are living in.

Filed Under: coup, democrats, donald trump, impeachment, not normal