Spewing the same propaganda about Special Counsel Robert Mueller’s Russian meddling and Trump collusion investigation, Democrats in Congress press for impeachment, despite admitting its futility. “I think there are a lot of us, myself included, who believe that Donald Trump has committed impeachable offenses,” Rep. John Yamuth (D-Ky.) told MSNBC’s “MTP Daily Show” Wednesday. Preaching to choir at MSNBC, Yamuth rehashed Democrats’ old talking points that Trump committed obstruction of justice firing former FBI Director James Comey May 9, 2017, violated the Constitution’s Emoluments Clause, undermined the judiciary and threatened press freedom under the First Amendment. No nonpartisan legal expert believes Trump committed “high-crimes-and-misdemeanors” to qualify for House articles of Impeachment or a Senate trial.
Talking nonsense about Trump on MSNBC, CNN and other major networks has been routine for Democrats, executing Democratic National Committee Chairman Tom Perez’s strategy to win back the House and Senate in 2018. Hyping the Mueller or Congressional investigations with every tidbit of gossip pointing fingers at Trump or his closest advisers help Democrats make the phony case to the public that Trump deserves impeachment. Perez’s strategy of infiltrating newsrooms and pushing the most negative stories about Trump allows Democrats to drive down Trump’s approval ratings. If they can keep up the attacks before the 2018 Midterm elections, Democrats think they’ve got a shot at taking back both houses of Congress. Admitting that Democrats’ impeachment strategy won’t work, Yamuth still defended Democrats’ negative Trump strategy heading into the New Year.
Democrats’ best shot a impeaching Trump comes from the spurious obstruction of justice charge, based solely on the idea that firing Comey prevented him from conducting the FBI’s investigation into collusion with Moscow. Comey, as FBI Director, was only peripherally involved in the Russian meddling and alleged Trump collusion investigation. Career FBI agents, including 49-year-old acting Deputy FBI Director Andrew McCabe, ran the investigation. One day after Comey was fired May 9, he stated emphatically that President Trump had a right to fire him at any time. Yet Yamuth and other pro-impeachment Democrats continue to push removing Trump from office. “We’re not in the majority, so we are not going to get passed in the House. It takes two thirds in the Senate,” said Yamuth. “We’d never get close if we go an impeachment resolution passed. So it would just be a waste of time.”
Yamuth’s admission makes abundantly clear that Democrats’ impeachment strategy in the House is purely to continue the negative publicity for Trump. Yamuth confessed it’s “appropriate” to keep the conversation going, largely to keep driving down Trump’s approval ratings before the Midterm elections. Yamuth cosponsored articles of impeachment in the House, only to watch the resolution fail Dec. 6. When it comes to obstruction of justice, Comey set the record straight May 10 that Trump had the right, as president, to fire him. When it comes to the Emoluments clause, Trump’s overseas golf courses and hotels have nothing to do with the intended meaning that presidents should not take cash payments from foreign governments. When it comes to “threatening” the press, Trump has no control over what Harvard Uninversity’s Schorenstein Center’s found May 17.
Schorenstein’s Center for Media, Politics and Public Polity found the mainstream media reported over 90% negative stories about Trump. Trump’s gone after the media precisely because of extreme media bias, feeding the public pernicious propaganda, not news, about the Trump presidency. Trump’s voracious tweeting, called inappropriate by Democrats and the media, hopes to set the record straight when the press only presents a one-sided view of his administration. “With all the fake news coming out of NBC and the Networks, at what point is it appropriate to challenge their license? Bad for the country,” Trump tweeted. Trump wants the public to question the unending stream of anti-Trump propaganda coming from the mainstream press. Yamuth and other Democrats in Congress don’t want to admit that the Democratic Party has infiltrated newsrooms, pushing propaganda instead of news.
Democrats’ impeachment strategy has nothing to do with impeachment and everything to do with spreading a much negative publicity about Trump before the Midterm elections. Yamuth admitted that any impeachment attempt against Trump wouldn’t work either in the House or the Senate. Yet it’s “appropriate” to keep the conversation going because it hurts Trump’s approval ratings and chances in the Midterm elections. “Right now, we have a huge energy advantage and our voters are telling us everyday, our base is saying, going after him, impeach him. Please do. But that’s not going to help us win back control of the House,” said Yamuth, admitting that Democrats can’t run on an “impeach Trump”: platform. If Mueller concludes his investigation in early 2018, it could pull the rug from underneath Democrats heading into the Midterm elections. Keeping Mueller’s and Congressional investigations going helps Democrats hammer Trump’s approval ratings heading into 2018.
