Impeachment! episode 1, now over.

THREE YEARS IN THE MAKING, NOW A BUST

WHAT WILL THE SEQUEL LOOK LIKE?

Impeachment ended yesterday in an anticlimactic vote in the Senate. This whole affair was mostly a foregone conclusion since its inception. With the exception of the lone remaining public Never-Trumper, Mitt Romney, the Republicans were unanimous in their refusal to be swayed away from their support for the President. 

The reality of politics gave the Republican senators no other choice. They will all live or die politically with Trump. His support among Republican rank and file is stronger than ever and going against him in something this partisan, would be the end to their political future.

While that is a big factor, it has also become clear to all the Republican office holders that this president has been the victim of an orchestrated attempt to remove him from office beginning even before his inauguration. While some may have been at one time skeptical that this was the case, it is now clear to them and a growing number of Americans that the Democrats, the media and the entrenched bureaucracy fear this president like no other and they will stop at nothing to remove him from office. I hope and pray that he has honest and reliable security.

The impeachment plan was set in motion immediately after Trump took office. They had pinned their hopes on the results of the 2 year Mueller probe. They hoped that this probe and leaking of damaging information would run Trumps support down to the 20% line, then they could use Romney type republicans to insist on his resignation. This plan did not work and when Muellar finally decided to wrap it up without any impeachable evidence, they doubled down in their quest to charge obstruction of Justice. 

The impeachment inquiry began immediately after the Mueller report in the House Judiciary committee headed by Jerry Nadler. It was an investigation looking for a crime and since there never was a vote in the House to begin a  Impeachment inquiry the White House decided enough was enough and refused to cooperate with the committee. Their strategy was, we cooperated with Muellar probe, but we will not give this committee anything without a fight in the court. Nadler proved to be incompetent in pursuing this impeachment and there were not the votes in the house to formally begin an inquiry. This plan was floundering until they found and set in motion a new plan.

This impeachment has many of the same actors from the start. Soon after the inauguration Eric  Ciaramella, an Obama hold over and a Brennan protegee, began leaking damaging information to the press, he was the original unnamed anonymous source. He was eventually found out and removed from the white house and returned to the CIA as an analyst. He eventually became the so-called whistle blower when he received classified information from Alexander Vindman, also a Obama administration holdover working in the white house. Ciaramella then counselled with Adam Schiff, the head of the House Intelligence committee, to prepare a complaint and start the ball rolling on this latest attempt at impeachment. 

Schiff was a smarter and more dedicated leader of this impeachment attempt. If you remember he had stated many times during the Muellar probe that he had the proof of the Trump campaigns collusion with the Russians. He engaged in numerous anonymous leaks to the media. He was the head of the House Intelligence committee and took charge of this latest impeachment attempt. He was able to get the blessing of Nancy Pelosi and the encouragement of the press. I believe he actually believed he could orchestrate the ousting of Trump from the presidency. It seems it is easy to become delusional when people become overwhelmed by their emotions.

So, yesterday was the end of this episode of impeachment. Judging from the events of the last 3 years, there is a good chance a new strategy is presently being formulated in someones basement. Many democrats may be reluctant to go here again, at present it is clear at least for the short term, this has been a humiliating loss for their credibility. They hope to use the Impeachment vote in the senate as fodder to regain the Senate this year. It may be a two edged sword for some democratic senators.

The reality is that they have no viable standard bearer for their party. The present group of democratic candidates look unimpressive as opponents to Donald Trump. It is a long way to November, we can expect it to be at least very entertaining.