Taking the wrong lessons from past impeachments.

I'm not talking about Andrew Johnson-although thumbing his nose (did they do that back in the 1860's?) at Congress got him into hot water and should serve as some kind of lesson. No, I'm talking about Nixon and Clinton. What are the arguments against impeaching Trump? It might backfire politically on the Democrats and the Senate will never convict him, right? Leave it up to the voters in the next election. I think that's a misread of history.

Clinton's impeachment ended badly for the Republicans because it was improperly-motivated and ill-conceived. It was all over bullshit (pardon my language) and people saw it for the political attack that it was. That's why it backfired. Nixon, on the other hand, was a corrupt and power-hungry bastard. His situation is far more instructive. At first he tried to claim the investigation into him was just a political attack. But when the evidence came out, it was game over. His staunchest allies abandoned him in the face of the overwhelming case against him. It the end, it wasn't political, it was both a defense of our system of government and a moral judgement against a president who beleived he was above the law.

Trump is a corrupt power hungry bastard too, only he isn't half as smart as Nixon and is surrounded by a political B-team who couldn't pass the citizenship test that is administered to the immigrants they so loathe. The evidence that would come out against Trump in an impeachment investigation would put Nixon to shame.(and that includes all of the evil and corrupt stuff that Nixon did beyond Watergagte). If you believe that the evidence is there (and it sure looks like it is) and if you beleive in our system of government, then you've got to have faith that doing the right thing and impeaching Trump will end well. Despite what Trump says (in reality it's his only defense) this would not be just a political attack. This is not a Bill Clinton redux. This guy is corrupt and evil. And despite what you might think and your (well-founded) lack of faith in the Republicans in the Senate, our goverment needs to hold Trump accountable.

Despite their short-comings, not every Republican is Lindsey Graham or Mitch McConnell. Evidence is evidence and anybody who has been following along knows that there is a lot of it. Even Republicans can be swayed. And if they aren't, even in the face of a mountain of evidence, they are the ones who will pay the price. They'll look pretty stupid ignoring the laundry list of corrupt and treasonous behavior. Trump has been corrupt his entire life, getting elected president didn't cure him. He's got to go.

Doing the right thing counts for something, and it has to be done, even if it's hard. If the Democrats succeed, they've saved the republic. If they fail while trying to do the right thing, well so be it- we'll still be better off. 50 years from now, if the answer to the question "why didn't you impeach Trump when the evidence was right in front of you?" is "we were scared of the political blowback", that's going to sound awful weak. History always favors those who did what was right and what was just.