House Speaker Nancy Pelosi of Calif. gavels as the House votes 232-196 to pass resolution on impeachment procedure to move forward into the next phase of the impeachment inquiry into President Trump in the House Chamber on Capitol Hill in Washington, Thursday, Oct. 31, 2019. The resolution would authorize the next stage of impeachment inquiry into President Donald Trump, including establishing the format for open hearings, giving the House Committee on the Judiciary the final recommendation on impeachment, and allowing President Trump and his lawyers to attend events and question witnesses. (AP Photo/Andrew Harnik)

Turns out that using the impeachment process to try to remove a sitting president ain’t cheap. According to The Heritage Foundation, taxpayers shelled out a little over $3 million to pursue the Democrats’ already-doomed effort to get President Trump out of office. That’s right. A proceeding that only took three months cost $3 million. Seems like it’d be less expensive to simply defeat him in the 2020 election — but most seem to know that success in that endeavor is not likely. 

The Heritage Foundation calculated their findings by taking into account the fees for six attorneys, the time that was spent by staff on preparing for the hearings, and the salaries of congressional staffers. But the amount is likely higher as their report does not include the fees for Capitol Police who worked when House hearings went late. It also does not take into account witnesses’ travel costs and other expenses. 

As you already know — unless you’ve been living in a cave — House Democrats voted to impeach President Trump this Wednesday. House Speaker Nancy Pelosi has not yet transferred the articles to the Senate but is expected to do so soon. It is clear that the GOP-controlled Senate will not vote to remove the president from office, so the effort will already be dead on arrival. 

So let’s get this straight. House Democrats were willing to have the American people spend $3 million to engage in a partisan effort to remove a president that they dislike less than a year before an election that would allow the American people to decide who they want in the Oval Office. 

Isn’t it amazing that they ever thought this was a winning strategy? And yet, all indications suggest that the Democrats’ push for impeachment is helping Trump more than hurting him. They lost Rep. Jeff Van Drew (R-NJ) who recently changed his party affiliation from Democrat to Republican over impeachment. Recent polls show that voters might not support a Democratic candidate who pushes for impeachment. 

It doesn’t seem that the impeachment craze is benefiting Democrats as much as they may have thought. But it is apparent that the progressive wing of the party had enough influence to force its leaders into a course of action that will likely propel Trump into an easy re-election effort. But will they learn their lesson after 2020? Probably not. After all, why should they acknowledge their failings when they can just blame it on bigotry?  

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