A Washington Post columnist urged Democrats to “move on” from impeachment because more Americans are losing interest.
Karen Tumulty warned Democrats, especially House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, against dragging out the impeachment process further by waiting to send the articles over to the Senate. Pelosi demanded that the Senate trial process meet her expectations before she turns the two articles of impeachment over to Majority Leader Mitch McConnell.
Tumulty highlighted that the Democratic presidential primaries start in early February with the Iowa caucuses, which could consume the time of several Democratic senators, including Bernie Sanders, Elizabeth Warren, Cory Booker, Michael Bennet, and Amy Klobuchar.
“We have reached the point at which Democrats are going to have to make a choice: Do they want to squander precious days and weeks tilting against an impregnable Republican wall in the Senate, or do they want to make their strongest case for removing Trump from office to the people who might actually do it — the voters?” Tumulty asked.
She later added, “This is as far as the process is likely to go.”
Tumulty explained that Democrats have “no leverage” to use against McConnell, who has already vowed to make the impeachment process short. She noted that Democrats would struggle to get 50 votes for even slight procedural moves, much less obtain the votes needed to remove President Trump from office.
“As it has since the proceedings began, Trump’s acquittal by the Senate appears certain,” Tumulty wrote. “The impeachment drama has been all-consuming for the media and for Washington politicians, stoked constantly by the president’s rage-filled tweets. But average Americans are losing interest in a movie where they already know the ending.”
She referenced polls that show Democrats shedding support for impeachment while President Trump’s approval ratings climb.
“The impeachment imperative now, both on practical and substantive grounds, is for Democrats to move on,” Tumulty wrote. “They are the ones who stand to suffer by delaying the inevitable.”
Tumulty made a career in reporting before becoming a columnist for the Washington Post. She has been a critic of Trump. Earlier this year, she vowed to never report on Trump’s political nicknames, such as “Crooked Hillary,” because she sees the names as “asinine.”
