CNN’s Chris Cuomo somberly said on his show Wednesday night that it was a foregone conclusion that President Trump “will bear the stain of being impeached,” adding that he didn’t “envy” Trump’s “fate.”
Why all the gloom? Trump is set to be impeached Wednesday night, but given what we’ve seen, this might end up being the best thing to have ever happened to him.
We saw that riveting show in November — career government bureaucrat after career government bureaucrat testified before Congress that they were gravely concerned about Trump, a foreign aid holdup, and Ukraine (who?). Amid all that, support for impeachment has cratered among independent voters, particularly in important swing states. Add to this the way impeachment has dragged Joe Biden’s adult son’s messy problems into the public eye, and how wall-to-wall coverage has starved many 2020 Democrats of the oxygen they needed to gain recognition and raise money. It is partly thanks to impeachment that California Sen. Kamala Harris has dropped out of the race, New Jersey Sen. Cory Booker is excluded from the next Democratic debate, and Julian Castro remains at less than 1% national support.
And then, what happens if Trump is impeached and then gets reelected?
He is certain to be acquitted by Republicans in the Senate. This will disappoint dimwitted liberals, who think impeachment is the same as removal. But are there enough emergency dispatch operators in the country to handle a scenario wherein November next year, Trump secures a second term?
Former President Bill Clinton enjoyed the highest approval rating of his tenure during the year he was impeached by House Republicans.
Trump has never been wildly popular among the public, but a Gallup poll released Wednesday showed that at the beginning of the impeachment process, Trump had a 39% approval rating. Over the course of the hearing, it has ticked up, and he’s now 6 points higher at 45%, which is effectively his baseline of support, the number he more or less needs to maintain.
If he’s impeached and yet still wins another term, that’s not going to be the best look for Democrats.
So, why, again, is it Trump who will “bear the stain of being impeached”? For now, his “fate” isn’t looking so bad.
