Slowly but surely, some House Democrats are beginning to realize this little circus Schiff is conducting in the House serves absolutely no purpose.
Moderate Democrats are beginning to bail, with Rep. Brenda Lawrence (D-MI) being among the first to jump ship.
No Value in Impeachment
The fact of the matter is that when push comes to shove, these politicians are going to be looking to protect their own positions.
For Democrats with a more moderate base, there simply is no value in trying to impeach a president that a significant portion of your base is supporting.
Lawrence stated, “We are so close to an election.
“I will tell you, sitting here knowing how divided this country is, I don’t see the value of taking him out of office.
“But I do see the value of putting down a marker saying his behavior is not acceptable.
“It’s in violation of the oath of office of a president of the United States, and we have to be clear that you cannot use your power of the presidency to withhold funds to get a foreign country to investigate an American citizen for your own personal gain.
“There’s no way around that.
“I want him censured. I want it on the record that the House of Representatives did their job and they told this president and any president coming behind him that this is unacceptable behavior and, under our Constitution, we will not allow it. … I am a Democrat, but I am an independent United States of America citizen.”
Changing Tides
Lawrence’s most recent works are a far cry from where she stood in October.
At that time, she stated, “I feel strongly that for my legacy, for my time in history, sitting here at this table with an oath of office to protect this country, to protect the democracy of the United States of America, I cannot sit silent, that I must move forward with [impeachment] because this is egregious.”
Lawrence is far from the only Democrat looking at this objectively.
For instance, Rep. Elissa Slotkin (D-MI), who won a red district in a largely liberal state, said that she would not base an impeachment on “an hour of testimony.”
Because these proceedings are not a courtroom, Schiff can pretty much get away with whatever he wants, and he has been.
During the hearings, I stated repeatedly had it been a court of law, the defense attorney would not have needed a chair because he would have been objecting every time Schiff opened his mouth.
If Schiff is smart, he will choose to save face with a censure and simply move on.
If he decides to take it further, there will be a political career ended, but it will most likely be his and anyone that continues to follow him down this path.