As for Trump inviting impeachment, Rep. Green doesn't buy it. He calls it a reverse psychology trick. He says Trump's bluffing. Following through with articles of impeachment would call that bluff. That would create an unpredictable dynamic that would depend first on the strength of the evidence presented to the Senate. And if the evidence is strong that the president committed impeachable offenses, and the Republican Senate votes NOT to convict, how will that play with American voters?
As for the alternative, Rep. Green sees it as unacceptable:
And if we don't impeach, here's what the president will say. He will say that the Democrats had the House by overwhelming numbers. He will say that they did not impeach me. He will say, "By their inaction, I have been vindicated, I have been exonerated." Mr. Mueller did not exonerate him. Why would the House of Representatives exonerate him? And he will say, "By virtue of this, you ought to elect me...meaning him, President Trump...president again." And let me share this with you. He will make a powerful argument that we were complicit, in a sense, in his actions by not having our action in the House of Representatives.
That's a credible scenario as far as it goes, but it omits anything else that may happen between now and November 2020, including not least the choice of a Democratic candidate. As it stands now, Trump is forcing the House to choose between impeaching him and caving in to him. Even if the House calls his bluff and impeaches him, Democrats and the country may lose the election. But if the House caves and allows the president to continue on his law-defying dictatorial path, then the election might well be irrelevant.
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