The Democrats’ move toward quick impeachment of President Trump assures that the issue will be front and center in the 2020 election and likely gives Trump a weapon to wield in his re-election bid.
Here’s the latest evidence that impeachment is strengthening — not weakening — Trump: a new poll in the crucial swing state of Michigan showing the president beating all his Democratic rivals.
The battleground poll by Firehouse Strategies shows even former Vice President Joe Biden losing to Trump by five points. U.S. Sen. Elizabeth Warren trails by nine points.
And 51 percent of Michigan voters say they oppose impeachment and removal from office, a similar number to that in Pennsylvania and Wisconsin. The poll was conducted early this month in the midst of the impeachment hearings.
And it’s not just Republicans who say Trump is now a more formidable opponent next year.
“I think Trump is getting stronger and I think he would just eat alive the (other) candidates,” billionaire businessman Mike Bloomberg told CNN.
But now all the Democratic candidates are stuck with impeachment as the main focus of the 2020 campaign, whether they like it or not.
In fact several top candidates, including Warren and Sen. Bernie Sanders, could be stuck in Washington for a good chunk of early next year to attend the impeachment trial in the Senate. Instead of campaigning on issues like health care and the economy, they’ll be sidelined just as voters in New Hampshire and Iowa are getting ready to make their decision. The Iowa caucus is Feb. 3 and the New Hampshire primary is Feb. 11 and the White House has signaled that it would like Democrats to be engaging in a long, drawn-out trial.
House leaders announced on Tuesday they are moving forward on just two articles of impeachment — abuse of power and obstruction of justice — both related to Trump’s attempt to get Ukraine to investigate Joe and Hunter Biden.
The scope of the articles is narrower than many liberal Democrats wanted, making it even tougher for House Speaker Nancy Pelosi and other House leaders to sell. A number of progressive groups wanted to include abuses stemming from Mueller probe.
But whether it’s two articles or 20, the outcome seems certain to be the same thing — acquittal in the Republican-controlled Senate.
The House’s impeachment hearings did nothing to convince voters or GOP lawmakers to support Trump’s removal from office.
And there’s a good chance that Trump will now be waving those articles of impeachment at his campaign rallies in a bid to fire up his base.
Trump wants a full-out impeachment spectacle, and that’s just what Democrats are giving him.
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