[Trump pressuring the Ukrainian president], of course, only one of Trump's many grotesque abuses of office. He baldly obstructed the Mueller investigation. He is stuffing great gobs of the White House budget into his own pockets, and continually taking huge payments from foreign governments — in flagrant violation of the Constitution in both cases. His administration is a pulsating rat's nest of corruption, bribery, and violent racism.
Pelosi is the most powerful Democrat in the country, and she has consistently used her power to delay and stymie any serious investigation of this stuff. As Chris Hayes writes, when she "wants something to happen in the House, it happens and when she doesn't it doesn't." The House effort to get Trump's tax returns is moving at a snail's pace — far outpaced by efforts in New York City. Democrats are only holding hearings on his violations of the Emoluments Clause on September 23 — more than nine months after taking over the majority.
Most importantly, there has been no formal impeachment inquiry. This is demanded on the legal and moral merits, a smart way to organize all the complicated corruption and abuse stories under one heading, and an excellent way to build public momentum against Trump — as it was against Nixon in his day, who was not half as corrupt as Trump is. But Pelosi is so scared of her own shadow that she is at daggers drawn with House Judiciary Committee chair Rep. Jerry Nadler (D-N.Y.) over the idea — Jerry Nadler, a longtime Pelosi ally and about as far from "fire-breathing radical" as it is possible to imagine. Nadler held an "impeachment hearing" some days ago where he called Corey Lewandowski to testify, but Pelosi undermined the effort immediately, going behind Nadler's back to harshly criticize him and his staff. In a closed-door meeting with aides and representatives, she claimed there simply weren't the votes for impeachment, and even said "feel free to leak this." (In reality, there aren't enough votes mainly because Pelosi is making sure there aren't.)
On the other hand, Trump officials are reportedly ignoring House Democrats' demands because they are confident Pelosi is too chicken to impeach. Why bother obeying the rules if nobody will punish you for breaking them?
The Week
Voters overwhelmingly oppose a move to oust the president — and some polls even show sentiment moving in the opposite direction.
The public, some Democrats fear, is becoming desensitized to Trump-related scandals, making the committee’s job convincing voters even more difficult.
[...]
“There is a numbness that is occurring month by month,” said Rep. Daniel Kildee (D-Mich.). “He gets more and more outrageous, far more bold. . . . But there’s this immunity that he seems to be developing.”
WaPo
Because the worse than useless Democrats didn't even try to make it difficult for him to do what he does.
“Any other president, had they done one of those things [Trump has] — the public would be screaming,” said Rep. Lois Frankel (D-Fla.). “The public has become numb, and he gets away with it.”
Don't be blaming "the public", Lois. You people are the ones who have the right and the duty to stop this man, and what are you doing about it? The public hasn't become numb.
Trump and White House officials, meanwhile, are reveling in Democrats’ difficulties. In fact, the president — who watched Lewandowski’s testimony from Air Force One on Tuesday — was laughing and joking about the hearing, arguing that Democrats have no idea what they’re doing and that no one cared about the Mueller report anymore, according to one person who spoke with him.
[...]
Two White House officials suggested that the administration could defy congressional requests because House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) has made it clear she is reluctant about impeachment. They also have calculated that there won’t be a public price to pay for stonewalling Congress, in part because the clock is running out.
“When I’m looking at the legislative calendar, you’re seeing there is not much left there. How much can they really do between now and when everyone is trying to run for their seats?” asked a senior White House official, who also spoke on the condition of anonymity to describe private discussions.
[...]
“The American people deserve better than the Democrats’ pointless showboating and political theater, masquerading as an ‘impeachment’ hearing,” White House press secretary Stephanie Grisham said in a statement Wednesday night. “Rather than scrambling for their five minutes of TV time, they should consider getting to work to help the people of this country.”
That sounds like an endorsement to impeach to me.
Chairman Jerrold Nadler (N.Y.) often notes that only 19 percent of Americans supported removing President Richard M. Nixon before lawmakers began their impeachment inquiry in 1973; but by the summer of 1974, a majority backed his ouster, suggesting the panel can build a case against Trump.
You think?
Lawmakers say they need to decide on impeachment by the end of the year, leaving the Judiciary Committee only a couple of months to make its public case. That pressure has caused occasional tension in the pro-
impeachment caucus, with some questioning the Judiciary strategy and wondering why they’re not doing more hearings.
[...]
[Of their recent hearing with Corey Lewandowski], Rep. Emanuel Cleaver II (D-Mo.) said the hearing essentially made the Democrats look weak, exposing Congress’s inability to overcome presidential stonewalling. Lewandowski talked over lawmakers, dodged questions and even used the hearing to promote a potential U.S. Senate bid in New Hampshire.
[...]
“Even though it was a rocky hearing yesterday, in retrospect, as people think about it, they will come to the conclusions that Corey Lewandowski was lying, and he was covering up for the president, and he was protecting the president — and they want to know why,” said Rep. Hank Johnson (D-Ga.). “So it will increase the curiosity and the suspiciousness of the American people.”
Rep. David N. Cicilline (D-R.I.) also said it was unrealistic for one hearing to move public sentiment. “This is a process in which we’re building a case,” he said. “This notion that, like, ‘Oh, is this going to turn the tide today?’ No.”
Then they better get busy and start calling in a lot more people.
Democrats have blamed the White House for making their job difficult.
Well no shit. And it's only getting harder with every time they allow Trump allies to refuse subpenas and behave like Lewandowski, and pay no consquences.
The Trump administration has blocked progress on more than 20 Hill investigations, keeping ex-aides from testifying and documents from being handed over. That’s why Judiciary Democrats are also looking to the courts to help them make their case to the public. A circuit court is expected to rule in late October on whether former White House counsel Donald McGahn must testify.
Ooooh. An attempt to do something. I'm impressed.
“We’re trying to craft a story, get the facts out there for the American people so they can see what is happening with their government,” said House Democratic Caucus vice chair Katherine M. Clark (D-Mass.). “And I think as those facts come out, we’re going to see where public sentiment is because we want to do this — as the speaker said many times — in a unified way, with public sentiment behind us.”
Catch-22, Katherine. Catch-22.
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