There have now been quite a few witnesses put forward by the Democrats in their impeachment soap opera....err...hearings. They have been incredibly boring, and few people are actually tuning in. In the 20 or so hours of coverage on essentially every network, the total viewing audience for the time slot is actually lower than it would have been on a regular day when soap operas, game shows and regular cable news programs are carried. And there's a reason for that. So far, all that the Democrats have established is that there are a number of people in the bureaucracy who don't like the approach toward US policy towards Ukraine that President Trump has followed. One witness yesterday actually complained that President Trump didn't follow the settled US policy that the witness had "provided". That's an amazing complaint since US foreign policy is totally under the control of the president and he can change it any time he wants to anything he wants. The big takeaway so far, however, has been more than just bureaucratic annoyance. It has been that not a single witness has provided proof of "bribery" (the Dems word of choice this week), of a quid pro quo (which was their prior favorite), of extortion (which the Dems used for a few days until that too fell apart) or of high crimes and misdemeanors (or even of low crimes.) The hearings have been a bust.
The American people are concluding that this is all a farce. According to one poll released yesterday, in the last two weeks the number of independents supporting impeachment has gone down by ten percentage points. This figure which had gotten close to a majority before the "proof" went on TV has now gone to about 40% and it dropped day by day during the polling. If that has continued after yesterday's inane performance, it's a total disaster for the Dems. They will have succeeded in convincing independents who provide the margin in most elections that impeachment has been a bad faith charade brought to you by the untrustworthy Democrats. No amount of media palaver in support of the Dems will change that view.
It now looks as if the impeachment mess may actually be over. Oh, the show will play out, but the essence of the attempt by the Dems to blacken Trump's name with the American people is failing. Most likely, we will see some crazy attempt by the Dems to change the trajectory, but that is a high stakes move. If it gets too crazy, the Dems could even lose the moderate segments of their base.
The American people are concluding that this is all a farce. According to one poll released yesterday, in the last two weeks the number of independents supporting impeachment has gone down by ten percentage points. This figure which had gotten close to a majority before the "proof" went on TV has now gone to about 40% and it dropped day by day during the polling. If that has continued after yesterday's inane performance, it's a total disaster for the Dems. They will have succeeded in convincing independents who provide the margin in most elections that impeachment has been a bad faith charade brought to you by the untrustworthy Democrats. No amount of media palaver in support of the Dems will change that view.
It now looks as if the impeachment mess may actually be over. Oh, the show will play out, but the essence of the attempt by the Dems to blacken Trump's name with the American people is failing. Most likely, we will see some crazy attempt by the Dems to change the trajectory, but that is a high stakes move. If it gets too crazy, the Dems could even lose the moderate segments of their base.
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