For a variety of reasons Democrats have talked of impeachment almost from the day President Trump took office in January of 2017 and just over a year before the next presidential election they are finally taking action.

On Tuesday House Speaker Nancy Pelosi announced they are launching a formal impeachment inquiry which would be just the fourth in American history.

The tipping point is the recent news that Trump had called the president of the Ukraine in July to ask that he investigate former Vice President Joe Biden who at that time appeared to be his likely opponent in next November’s general election.

Trump has admitted to making the call which he insists was appropriate but what has sparked the impeachment inquiry was the White House’s refusal to act on a whistleblower complaint that came from an anonymous member of the intelligence community.

Speaker Pelosi has fought off past efforts by members of her party to begin impeachment proceedings against Trump for some of his actions before and after he took office including Russia’s role in the 2016 presidential election.

Many of the Democrats who wanted her to go on the offensive were younger members of the House serving their first terms but Pelosi for the most part was able to hold them at bay.  However this latest controversy was apparently too much for them and her to ignore and the impeachment process has begun for the first time since Bill Clinton’s second term in office in 1998.

While Pelosi is asking for swift action that is likely not going to be the case and in the end you would be wise to bet that Trump will not be impeached because for it to happen two-thirds of the Senate would have to vote that way and Republicans hold the majority there.

However certainly this could and likely will be a major issue in the presidential election next November and an already divided country will likely become even more divided.

While I am no fan of Trump my preference would be to let the American people decide his fate when they cast their ballots in less than fourteen months.  The time between now and then is going to ugly, you can be sure of that.

 

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