Most politicians go to Iowa to announce their plans to run for president. Tom Steyer made the trek to do the opposite. From Des Moines, he announced to the country that he won’t be running. He’d rather light his money on fire.
Steyer will spend 2019 continuing his efforts to impeach the current president, dumping $40 million more into the effort.
This left political observers perplexed. His impeachment talk was always quixotic, the stuff that excites Vox bloggers, yes, but always with a larger purpose in mind. The smart play would have been to whip progressives into a frenzy over impeachment, collect all their relevant contact information, and then use that hysteria and those collected email address to fuel a run on the White House.
And for a while it looked like Steyer was building exactly this kind of primary-busting machine. He paid for television ads and conducted polling in early primary states. He put a team together and designated an acting campaign manager. All Steyer had to do, as the New York Times reports, was give the word, and his impeachment advocacy groups would transform into presidential political machines overnight.
It was all for naught though. Steyer isn’t running.
“We have a lawless president in the White House who is eroding our democracy and it is only going to get worse,” Steyer said in an announcement that reads like something from Rachel Maddow’s teleprompter.
“Donald Trump’s removal from power ultimately decides whether or not we can tackle every other challenge we face in America — and whether or not we continue to live in a democracy of, for, and by the people. It is past time for members of Congress to fulfill their constitutional duty. The question remaining is what will Congress do?”
The obvious answer? Absolutely nothing. Why? The numbers say so.
If he hasn’t already, Steyer should familiarize himself with Article I of the Constitution and the results of the latest midterm election. The House of Representatives must first vote to impeach the president. This requires a simple majority, which is possible thanks to the electioneering efforts of newly minted Speaker Nancy Pelosi, D-Calif. But then the Senate must decide whether or not to convict. That requires a two-thirds supermajority, which is all but impossible so long as Sen. Mitch McConnell, R-Ky., remains majority leader.
There just aren’t enough votes for impeachment, and Steyer won’t get any more votes before 2020, no matter how much money he burns.
This leaves Democrats in something of a bind. They need to find another billionaire, and fast. Perhaps a caffeine-addled Howard Schultz or nanny-minded Michael Bloomberg can fill in. Like Steyer, they have their own billions. Unlike Steyer, they hopefully have a grasp on basic political arithmetic.
