Why Pelosi believes she finally has the goods on Trump

This time Trump’s crimes are about 2020

President Trump.
(Image credit: Illustrated | Win McNamee/Getty Images, TylerFairbank/iStock, Scott Olson/Getty Images, javarman3/iStock)

We're heading for impeachment. Today a group of seven prominent freshmen Democrats representing swing districts published an op-ed in The Washington Post calling for President Trump's impeachment if allegations that he blackmailed the president of Ukraine for dirt on the Democratic frontrunner Joe Biden and his son Hunter turn out to be true. These are the very members that House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) had crafted her 2020 strategy to protect, and it took only a few hours for her to announce the opening of a formal impeachment inquiry. It was as if a couple staying together for the sake of the children gets sat down by the kids themselves and told to go ahead and get a divorce.

What caused this dramatic shift in the position of Democrats who had, only the week before, seemed bent on holding the activist base at bay and playing it safe through next November? It could be the seriousness of the alleged misconduct. And make no mistake: If President Trump really did hold up aid to Ukraine to extract damaging information about the Bidens, it would arguably be the most mind-bogglingly corrupt thing he's done in office.

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David Faris

David Faris is an associate professor of political science at Roosevelt University and the author of It's Time to Fight Dirty: How Democrats Can Build a Lasting Majority in American Politics. He is a frequent contributor to Informed Comment, and his work has appeared in the Chicago Sun-Times, The Christian Science Monitor, and Indy Week.