[Publius]

Another strong first post. Thanks for making it.

Originally Posted by Grover

The most basic is simply a question of discussion: If it is said that President Trump committed these acts for self benefit and not for the benefit of the American people, could it be perceived that all those that voted for him do, in fact, benefit from the alleged actions?

I have three answers:

1) It's possible, but unproven to my understanding.
2) It could benefit some of those who voted for him, but not all.
3) It won't benefit many of them at all.

I believe Congressional Democrats feel there is a real chance Warren or Sanders could be the nominee.

Well, it's an actual possibility so I hope so.

I also believe they [Sanders and Warren] do not stand a chance winning the election against Trump.

The polling that's currently available says both of them beat the crap out of Trump for now. I agree that Warren would struggle at the very least. I think Sanders could win more easily.

I am not ready to make any prognostications this early in the race, but if the election were held today all three of the Democratic candidates you mentioned would win in a landslide.

Please note that this is essentially what I said every day for all of 2015 and 2016. Until about the last week before the election.

In other words, don't put too much stock into my predictions (or anyone else's) this early.

Instead of rushing it, Democrats would fare better taking the time to make a stronger case and waiting on the courts to implement issued subpoenas for fact witnesses.

I think that I disagree.

I have seen many people make this assertion. Mostly Republicans. It is strategically advantageous to tie this process down, get people totally tuned out of it, and make it old news before it ever sees the light of public view. This strategy greatly benefits Republicans for lots of reasons.

The House has plenty of evidence to move forward, and they have majority support for impeachment and removal now in both the House, and among the voting population. It's also strategically advantageous to put the GOP on the hot seat right now.

I believe Democrats are timing this impeachment perfectly to remove Sanders and Warren from being contenders.
Full well knowing they will be forced to remove themselves from their campaigns and sit in the Senate impeachment trial leaves the door open for Biden to surge ahead with little competition.

But it also gives Sanders and Warren a large platform with lots of cameras upon which to make many sound-bite statements and earn free media.

I also am not sure how long this trial will take. I also don't think that sitting in Congress actually hampers a person's campaign capacity, given the speed at which the candidates can move from state to state. It's not uncommon for a candidate to live in one state, campaign in two others, and have both breakfast and dinner in their own home.

Biden might be our only chance to win and God forbid those Socialists get the nomination, we are doomed for sure. Let’s conjure up our best case, regardless how flimsy it is, on how to impeach Trump and time it perfectly to introduce into the Senate to remove those senators from their campaigns effectively rendering them defeated. Once they’re no longer in contention, we can figure out later how to move forward. But we won’t win against Trump with those two so let’s fix this for our best outcome for now.”.

The Democrats have only themselves to blame for you feeling and thinking these things. They did this to themselves. I don't personally believe this thought process is being used in this case, but the fact that some people who are definitely liberals (perhaps many) think that it's possible is exactly why they should have known better. To be blunt, when the Republican Party "rigged" the system against Ron Paul, it didn't matter very much, because that is a different demographic base. When the Democrats crapped on the more liberal wing within their party, it was going to have a very different consequence. And worse, it didn't need to be done.

I don't see the conspiracy you fear. I don't agree with your conclusions. I absolutely see how you got there, though, and I definitely think the Democrats have only themselves to blame.

Good post. Very good. Thanks again.