As impeachment looms, Republican officeholders hitching their wagon to President Trump’s star may be making the wrong political bet. The safer option might be to work in concert to evict Trump from office quickly, giving voters nearly a year to get accustomed to Mike Pence as president.

Right now, they think that Trump is so popular with Republican voters that they dare not cross him. That conventional wisdom is entirely logical, but only in the short term. The trouble is, Trump offers them very little upside for the general elections 11 months from now (and beyond), but huge electoral dangers.