Anyone fear of potential backlash for impeaching Trump

OP, what is the alternative? Should the House ignore trump's behavior and the law out of fear?

Pelosi is right, "He leaves us no choice."

This is only a partisan exercise because the GOP is full of cowards.

OP is a Russian troll

OP, R1 and R2 are all correct. We need to do this but yes, there will be repercussions. Damned if we do, damned if we don't. As if I needed any additional reasons to despise Donnie.

It will force a public record of who voted to impeach and who didn't; in the Senate, who voted to convict and who voted to acquit. That information can then be used in the 2020 election - the fact that so-and-so voted to acquit can be used against them in their reelection campaign.

You mean the long-threatened uprising of AR-15 toting 4chan readers? Not really. They tend to go off one by one, not in groups, and they pick on easy marks like rural elementary schools and churches.

There is a very real chance the GOP could lose The Senate in 2020. For all their bluster they are scared. McConnell has been uncharacteristically quiet through all of this for a reason.

McConnell is scared shitless of losing next year, which is why he is kissing Trump's ass every chance he gets. Re-election is more important than patriotism.

Once again, the Republican spin reveals exactly where they are. They want the Democrats to think that they're damned if they proceed, and damned if they don't, but the reality is that it is the Republicans that are damned. If the vote to convict, the base will rise up and squash them; if they vote to acquit, they're telling the world that there is no behavior egregious enough to warrant impeachment, and setting the standard for presidential behavior for the future, and likely risking their majority in the Senate and the White House.

I'm hoping that Pelosi's tactical leadership is correct on this. I fear that rushing articles of impeachment too soon will allow the Republicans to acquit and not face the consequences of their cowardice because Americans generally have the memory of a gnat. We need the continued drip-drip-drip of revelations of Trump's repeated and flagrant misconduct and lawlessness to stay fresh in voters' minds as they head into the polling booths. My ideal situation would be that the Democrats write the articles and then embark on a national tour to explain and drum up support for voting in the House to refer the matter to the Senate in the Spring, with the actual trial and votes forcing every Senator to take a public position held sometime in the Summer. And, as we've seen since he took office, Trump will continue to commit crazy and illegal acts, only lending more credence to impeachment.

You have to give Pelosi some credit; she said Trump would impeach himself, and he did. Now we just need to reach suburban women and convince them that Trump is going to ruin their children's lives with his illegal, immoral and outrageous buffoonery.

It's the right and legal procedure to do, why should one fear of the ill-conceived backlash, troll?

Yes, I fear that , too. But I still have hope that even if this fails once it gets to the Senate (which I have no doubt that it will), it will be a wake up call to the Democratic voters and they will be more fired up than ever to come out and vote for whoever the Democratic nominee is. AND that goes for the Senate, too. If we can get a majority in the Senate. In the event that Trump wins re-election, we can impeach the bastard again and this time get real justice.

Right on the money R9

Absolutely, Op.

I live in a Pennsylvania swing district where the GOP is relentlessly running ads listing all Conor Lamb promised to do, including being independent of NP, and how he quickly "joined the swamp". It was these moderate districts that gave the house the majority and progressives. It's not going to be easy in 2020 to keep these moderate districts.

I really wish that Democrats called higher level witnesses, even if it meant waiting for the courts to rule on testifying. I would also like to see more democratic push back on these ads, but so far nothing but crickets.

Why wait for the courts? It is an obstruction maneuver.

If these "high level witnesses" had any exculpatory evidence they would have spoken by now. What you would get would be more damning testimony or evocations of the 5th.

OP is a concern troll. Stop feeding him.

r15, DL is so flooded with Putinbots these days it's hard to get a word in edgewise.

You need to wait for the courts, r14, because these witnesses have defied orders to appear. Nancy has already said they don't want to wait and want to push forward to a speedy conclusion. Mistake in my opinion. Support for impeachment isn't as strong in swing districts as it is nationally, and the testimony they had back in November didn't give Democrats the pop they were hoping for. And, as I said up thread, Republican groups are targeting these districts with huge ad buys.

Of course there will be a backlash. There is not an overwhelming impeachable case against Trump (spare me your retorts; as far as I see, there is NOT) and on the best day, the nation is sharply divided on this anyhow and not moving. Most people honestly do not care at this point and have tuned it out. Democrats have not been able to sway public opinion in favor of this.

It's 100% partisan and Joe and Jane Blow know it. Moderate districts will go back to the GOP. Leftists will crow "good riddance!" as they are wont, because they are obsessed with purity tests rather than policy results. I wonder if the House will vote as they did for the Inquiry. Will be interesting to see. Not sure many Congressmen will want to be the sacrificial lamb for the left-wing's wrath should they defect.

R17 The testimony didn't have the pop they were hoping for??

Uh...OK...

Plan A is to get Trump out of the White House properly. Either thru Impeachment, or the next election. But we all know he's gonna refuse to leave under any circumstance.

Is anybody conceiving a B plan? We have to figure out how to get him out of there when the inevitable comes true.

R19, I take it you don't follow the news. WaPo had a good article two days ago that the polls are unchanged following the testimony and are slightly lower in swing districts. So, no, the testimony didn't make a dent.

R21 is a troll with poll information.

No, OP. It is a process, but the Republicans should fear. If the Dems prosecute the case well, the independents will turn on the Republicans like they did on Nixon. Trump was siding with a foreign power against us! Case closed.

R17, you sound like Jonathan Turley or whomever it was the Rethugs called yesterday to testify. Waiting for the courts could bring us all the way into June. By that time, why would you want to start impeachment proceedings whilst the 2020 candidates would be out campaigning and missing some days/weeks.

I think we have to impeach him in order to mark in history that regardless of the conviction, that this behavior he engages in does and will not be tolerated in our country - so the next person will know that if they do what Drumpf did or worse, the penalty for engaging in that behavior is (potential) impeachment bar none. Whether you get convicted or not depends on how we turn this silly Senate that we have now around because even in Clinton's case, some Dems voted to impeach him, so who's to say that kind of "magic" wouldn't happen again to a future president that does ultimately end up being removed and/or resigning before being removed? It's all about the oath to the Constitution that you take - you promise to defend and support it with God and country as your witness. If you break that promise, then all grounds are broken open to whatever checks, balances, and punishments that you understood would come as you took that oath. I think that Donnie thinks this is all a game and he can manipulate how it goes or not...and he can't. He left the 2nd person in line to the office no choice but to call out his actions.

R24, meanwhile you have testimony that moved the needle a bit lower with swing voters. But, sure, rushing things through in a country as divided as ours is a great idea.

What People Watched Instead Of The Impeachment Hearing

I think that Trump and other Republicans should fear a backlash.

What could go wrong?