How badly have the impeachment proceedings gone for the Democrats?

Well, it would be hard to measure and polls are indicating it didn’t convince anyone.

But one good indication might be after all this, after everything Democrats have done, there are now rumblings that Democrats may not try to officially impeach President Donald Trump.

From Daily Wire:

Top Republicans — and even some Democrats and members of the media — now believe Democrats may pull back on officially impeaching the president, particularly as polls haven’t borne out a clear advantage for Democratic candidates.

After two weeks of impeachment hearings, which yielded little in the way of evidence that the president most definitely offered Ukraine a “quid pro quo” agreement trading an increase in foreign aid for an investigation into “corruption” involving former Vice President Joe Biden and his son, Hunter, Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi (D-CA) is left with a choice: call off the impeachment and look weak or keep going and risk failure at the ballot box.

Multiple polls taken last week reveal that the impeachment hearings are having their most marked effect on independents, who are supporting the impeachment in ever-declining numbers, leaving moderate Democrats at risk of losing their seats and Democratic presidential contenders at a loss going into 2020.

The Hill reports Sunday that “public opposition to impeachment has some Republicans … voicing skepticism that Speaker Nancy Pelosi will go through with a vote on impeachment.”

While Trump said he welcomed a trial, even he seemed to doubt that he would face one, saying it would hard for the House to impeach, “when they have absolutely nothing.”

It’s pretty hard to impeach without one witness who can actually testify that Trump told him/her to condition aid on investigations. Plus all the witnesses who said it never happened.

But polls show voters aren’t enthusiastic about impeachment, and a subsequent multi-state media push from Republicans ripping vulnerable Democrats for supporting Pelosi’s crusade has those same moderate Democrats reportedly begging the Speaker to halt the process.

But now that Pelosi has gone this far, she’s put herself in a box. If she backs out and does nothing, her far left base will eat her alive. If she continues on this course and goes to a vote with nothing, they face getting punished severely at the ballot box. And then a Senate trial in which they call Hunter Biden, Joe Biden, the whistleblower and Rep. Adam Schiff (D-CA) could open up a whole can of worms Democrats didn’t originally count on, going into the election.

Here’s Fox’s John Roberts suggesting that they may be considering the option of censure as an out to their dilemma.

You need to read the tweet. Jackson was CENSURED. I was talking about chatter on Capitol Hill that rather than impeach Trump, there may be a move to CENSURE him.
Then you can come back and apologize. https://t.co/ttiH9jd9on

— John Roberts (@johnrobertsFox) November 22, 2019

Officially, however, the Hill says Democrats are still saying they’re proceeding apace.

“The hearings were nearly flawless and extremely damning for the president,” one Democrat aide told the Hill. “While no decision has been made to proceed with impeachment, the key facts are uncontested and not proceeding at this stage will be called a ‘total exoneration’ by the president.”

Everyone told them, they went for it anyway, because of the base.

Hopefully, it costs them big time at the ballot box.