I had hoped that August’s long list of Trump scandals, embarrassments, racist rants, emoluments, and ongoing attacks on American civic institutions would have inspired House Democratic leadership to come out after Labor Day with a full throated announcement of a formal impeachment inquiry on the part of the Judiciary Committee.
But instead we get more equivocation and mixed messages. Steny Hoyer says there is no impeachment inquiry and then quietly walks it back. Rep. Pramila Jayapal says there is an impeachment inquiry. Rep. Jim Himes says no, we’re not in one. Rep Hakeem Jeffries says he’s not sure whether we are or not. Rep. Gregory Meeks says we’re trying to determine whether to have one or not. Speaker Pelosi contorts her comments so as not to use the “I” word.
As a result of this hapless lack of clarity and leadership, the DOJ court filing on Friday referenced this equivocation in their argument against the release of the Mueller grand jury material, and that argument just might prevail, further tying the hands of Rep. Nadler and the Judiciary Committee.
Here we have far and away the most lawless, corrupt, dishonest president in US history, and the Democratic Party leadership cannot manage to align itself on the right thing to do. They cannot decide one way or the other — a most cowardly abdication of Congress’ constitutional duties.
I understand that in politics it is sometimes important to “keep ones’ options open” when building or maintaining coalitions, but this has gotten beyond ridiculous and will be a real drag on momentum going into the 2020 election season.