No sooner did Nancy Pelosi, in an interview with The Washington Post that ran online on Monday afternoon, pour cold water on the idea of impeaching the president than people set to somberly examining what she might actually mean.
In fact, she essentially poured from the same pitcher that she has before, but not so overtly: she says -- as she has said on background, or her allies have said -- that she simply doesn’t think that it’s wise for the Democrats to pursue impeachment of Donald Trump in such an intensely partisan atmosphere, and with the high degree of unlikelihood of the Senate mustering the required two-thirds vote to remove Trump from office, and without bipartisan support.
On the face of it, the Speaker of the House was making sound points. At the time of Richard Nixon’s in-effect impeachment, the degree of partisanship was mild compared to now and the process ended with a significant amount of bipartisan support. Like Trump, Nixon threatened the constitutional order. Unlike Trump, Nixon—a lawyer and a former House member, senator, and vice president (for eight years)—was a creature of the political system.
