Caricature by DonkeyHotey flic.kr/p/Ct4G4K https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/2.0/

The House Democrat caucus will be meeting today at 4pm to decide upon an impeachment strategy. The proximate cause of this move seems to be the refusal by the administration to go along with the Democrat demands that it be allowed to know the contents of President Trump’s conversation with Ukraine President Zelensky in which Trump is alleged to have demanded that the Ukrainians follow through an investigation of corruption involving Hunter Biden that was stopped by Joe Biden threatening aid to the Ukraine if it continued.

The rationale is probably as silly as anything Robert Mueller ever investigated. It is made even more silly by the fact that attempting to impeach Trump for trying to stop corruption and to champion the rule of law will one of the hardest concepts imaginable to sell to about 80% of America. Particularly when the evidence on Hunter Biden and good ol’ Dad starts coming out.

The eleged pattern of selling public office for millions and billions is an attack on the core of our government of laws. It must be taken seriously, even if it involves a member of the Washington protected class.

— Rudy W. Giuliani (@RudyGiuliani) September 24, 2019

This is what is going on.

Nancy Pelosi will meet with her caucus today at 4 p.m.

BREAKING: Speaker Pelosi tells @AlexNBCNews when asked about impeachment: "Later today I will make an announcement after I meet with my chairmen, my leadership and my caucus.”

— NBC News (@NBCNews) September 24, 2019

Speaker Nancy Pelosi refused to comment just now on impeachment, if her views have changed – or if she is endorsing impeachment proceedings or even a select committee.
“I’ll be making my statement later today,” she told reporters repeatedly

— Manu Raju (@mkraju) September 24, 2019

While Pelosi doesn’t seem all that anxious to move forward, it is doubtful that she has a lot of choice.

Pelosi to make announcement on the topic of impeachment this PM. As of 12:30 PM there have been 20 new members that have announced their support of impeaching Donald Trump bringing the total number of members supporting impeachment to 165. Stay tuned.

— Adam Parkhomenko (@AdamParkhomenko) September 24, 2019

These are some additions to the list:

Several freshman House Democrats announced last night and this morning including Rep. Haley Stevens of Michigan to support impeachment: "If investigations confirm recent reports, these actions represent impeachable offences." https://t.co/8LCNfTCr24

— Craig Caplan (@CraigCaplan) September 24, 2019

NJ Democratic Rep. Sires first elected in 2006 calls for impeachment inquiry:"The President’s past obstruction of Congressional investigations combined with the revelations of the last 24 hours have made it clear that we must begin an impeachment inquiry."https://t.co/qo107Zaa72

— Craig Caplan (@CraigCaplan) September 24, 2019

4th term Fort Worth, Texas Democratic Congressman Marc Veasey supports impeachment inquiry. https://t.co/GYFxbrphPV

— Craig Caplan (@CraigCaplan) September 24, 2019

TX delegation dean & House Science Cmte Chair Democratic Rep Eddie Bernice Johnson:"If the allegations of his abuse of power are substantiated, I will be placed in a position where I must fulfill my constitutional duty and support impeachment proceedings.” https://t.co/GKJg5yT1Tz

— Craig Caplan (@CraigCaplan) September 24, 2019

When you’re getting your intellectual content from Eddie Bernice Johnson you’ve hit rock bottom unless Maxine Waters weighs in.

What Pelosi seems to be trying to pull off is “impeachment-lite.” She will get behind an “inquiry,” because the nutters in her caucus demand it. The inquiry will give Fat Jerry more clout in dealing with the courts, for instance, he may be able to get grand jury testimony, but it won’t be an actual impeachment proceeding. The distinction is important because Nancy Pelosi’s majority is based on first term members who were elected from Red and Purple districts. Most of them probably don’t want to campaign for reelection when the main subject is impeachment.

Even so, I’m not sure that the politics of this has been completely thought through. Like the part where the genie goes meekly back into the bottle. It seems to me that impeachment has a logic all its own and once unleashed is hardly manageable. The impeachment inquiry would undoubtedly dominate the Democrat primary and deprive the Democrats of an opportunity to talk about anything else. Once the impeachment inquiry gets underway, there is a less than zero probability that a hyper-partisan House Judiciary Committee doesn’t vote out articles of impeachment. That, then, puts Pelosi in the position of either supporting an impeachment hearing in the midst of an election season…letting Trump dominate the news every day and letting the public see just how batsh** crazy the Democrats are…or of quashing the entire thing and depressing Democrat turnout.

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