Member-only story
Public Opinion Can Move the Senate Trial
If you are among those complaining that Speaker Nancy Pelosi was too slow on the impeachment trigger,
you know you are not alone. Some people disrupted her public appearances with loud complaints. Op-eds appeared hither and yon claiming impeachment was long overdue and blaming Pelosi. I now write to the purpose of persuading you — now that Pelosi has impeachment moving — you need to get moving.
I knew this as a vague abstraction, that public opinion moves both the House and the Senate. A political ad from the Trump campaign took the role of public opinion out of the realm of abstraction. The ad completely misrepresents former Vice President Joe Biden’s work in Ukraine.
No surprise there; we are living in the time of post-truth politics. Then I picked up a newspaper and saw that the Trump campaign intends to spend $10 million presenting a pack of lies to as many voters as possible. Not political spin. Lies.
If Trump can sell the lies, the ad campaign will be cheap at the price. The delay that had many people upset at Pelosi was caused by the Speaker’s unwillingness to get out in front of public opinion. She only gave in when Trump publicly confessed to an impeachable offense that showed an intent to rig the 2020 election. The President’s attempt to involve Ukraine in U.S. elections made it a matter…
