Congressman Adam Schiff has emerged as one of the most vocal, virulent critics of President Trump in Congress over the past couple of years. He’s become such a regular visitor to CNN that one wonders if he’s on the payroll there yet. And for quite some time now he’s been calling for impeachment. But during the recent Democratic festivities in California, Schiff appeared to throw in the towel. He sounds as if he’s given up on the idea of removing the President from office and will be content to simply “vote the bums out of office.” (Washington Examiner)
House Intelligence Committee Chairman Adam Schiff told a revved up crowd of fellow California Democrats late Saturday that impeaching Trump shows “no sign” of working given that the Senate won’t convict, saying voting Trump out on Election Day is the better option.
“Now I know that many of you would like to see us impeach this president, and that may become necessary. He seems to be doing everything in his power to make it so,” Schiff told the sold-out dinner held as part of the California Democratic Convention in San Francisco. “But let us not lose sight as we debate the merits of impeachment that, unless the GOP leadership in the Senate finds a backbone it shows no sign of possessing, there is going to be only one way to end this nightmare and to send Mr. Trump packing, and that is to vote the bums out of office — all of them, including the one at 1600 Pennsylvania,” he added.
It’s a good thing that Schiff isn’t running for the 2020 nomination (an amazing fact since it seems as if virtually every other Democrat in the country is) because talking like that can get you booed off the stage in some places. The California Democratic Convention has been a mixed bag on the subject so far, however. Schiff was preceded on stage by Maxine Waters who, as usual, was banging the impeachment drum. So did Kamala Harris, who also addressed the crowd.
Conversely, when Speaker Pelosi took the stage, she still wasn’t willing to go there. Her remarks were interrupted when the crowd began chanting “Impeach” over and over again.
Given the furor of the crowds, what brought about this change of heart on Schiff’s part? In this case, I’m willing to simply take him at his word. Schiff has seen the writing on the wall and knows that the votes don’t exist to convict the President in the Senate. Even if they go through with this dog and pony show, it will wind up being a rapid and spectacular failure in the upper chamber. Then the Democrats will still be stuck with Trump in office for at least another 18 months and he’ll be so enraged by the attempt that he won’t work with them on anything.
The Democrats also need to keep an eye on the public’s reaction to the question. A majority still oppose impeachment and nearly all of the support for it comes from Democrats. Only 35% of independents and 6% of Republicans support it. And a significant number see the prospect as overreach on the part of the Democrats. If they push their hysterics too far it could come back to bite them next November.