There's no doubt the prospect of Trump being the first president to undergo a second impeachment is appealing, and, for sure, not without merit. His initial impeachment more than a year ago came much too late — for three prior, awful years he had relentlessly demonstrated his unqualified unfitness for office — and for the House to again impeach him for even worse, unrehabilitated behavior appears only proper. (The official condemnation would stop there, however, since the only remaining impossible dream these days is that the Senate would convict.)
The speaker of the House also appears prepped: "He’s unhinged," said Nancy Pelosi yesterday. "We can’t move on. If we think we can move on then we are failing the American people." A multi-hour call with her caucus revealed that they, too, mostly agree with not moving on; that is, moving on with what amounts to another indictment of this nation's most deplorable human being, of a sort.
No uniform consensus prevails, though. Some Democrats fear that a historic, second impeachment would firm up Trump's support just as it's disintegrating; that he'd convincingly don a Phoenixlike mantle of martyrdom. They're also uneasy about such a concentrated effort crushing the urgent imperative of promoting President-elect Biden's agenda. "My bet would be there is not a single adviser around Joe Biden who doesn’t believe Trump should be impeached," said liberal activist Brian Fallon. "But there is also no one who wants him to spend a single bit of political capital on this. And they are right" — and Fallon is right.
Aside from concurring with that politically sensible view, I have come around to believing that a second impeachment is the wrong way to go — again, from a political view. Consider the upsides to letting it pass. The absence of House Democrats' formal retaliation — however justified — would rob Trump supporters of alleging mere revenge and thus leave a larger and more lasting blot on the GOP's already besmeared reputation; would help to keep the GOP field fractured — not only in the 2024 presidential race, but in 2022 congressional primaries as well; and that would offer Democrats the opportunity to pick up the electoral pieces, or simply discourage Republican voters from reengaging.
To be clear, I certainly appreciate the avowed reasons for forging ahead with another impeachment. Yet those reasons also seem to be playing a less productive, shorter game.