But we expect them to try

Today I got an email notice from a progressive group. They are organizing a protest in Washington, DC for June 1. The purpose is to demand that House Democrats begin impeachment proceedings. On the page describing the event they list the nasty guy’s 10 impeachable offenses:

1: Obstructing Justice

2: Violating the Emoluments Clause of the U.S. Constitution

3: Conspiring with Others to Commit Crimes Against the United States, and Attempting to Conceal Those Violations

4: Advocating Violence and Undermining Equal Protection Under the Law

5: Abusing the Pardon Power

6: Engaging in Conduct that Grossly Endangers the Peace and Security of the United States

7: Directing Law Enforcement to Investigate and Prosecute Political Adversaries for Improper and Unjustifiable Purposes

8: Undermining the Freedom of the Press

9: Cruelly and Unconstitutionally Imprisoning Children and their Families

10: Violating Campaign Finance Laws

I’m beginning to think about going. It would be a tight fit in my schedule. The group promoting the event is offering free bus rides to and from Detroit. Alas, both to and from are overnight rides. And I didn’t enjoy the last time I did overnight bus rides to a protest in Charlotte over Labor Day weekend in 2012 (yeah, I blogged about it here).

If I’m going to pay for the trip (car or flight and hotel) I’d want to visit the city for longer than I have available.

Such a protest shouldn’t be necessary. Most of us thought that flipping the House to the Democrats last November would have been enough. Alas, it isn’t. Democrats aren’t acting.

Yeah, they have issued subpoenas. But they haven’t yet grappled with what to do as those subpoenas are ignored.

So Sarah Kendzior, who studies authoritarian regimes and has been calling for impeachment for a few months now, continues to tweet about it.

A quote from a recent episode of her Gaslit Nation podcast:

We do not expect this to be easy, or even for battles to be won. But we do expect the Democratic leadership to *try*. What is demoralizing people, what is tearing people apart, is that they will not even try.

That prompted John McAndrew to tweet a quote from Harper Lee:

I wanted you to see what real courage is, instead of getting the idea that courage is a man with a gun in his hand. It’s when you know you’re licked before you begin but you begin anyway and you see it through no matter what. You rarely win, but sometimes you do.

Kendzior again. From a month ago:

The message Pelosi conveys when she says Trump is 'not worth it' is that it is not worth holding him accountable for crimes that have resulted in the loss of human life and the ongoing destruction of our nation. Pelosi may not have intended for this to be her message, but that is how many received it. She hurled a grenade into progressives and wounded many with her words. She may think we can vote Trump out, but she has hurt that very cause.

And commenting on that passage this week:

We warned that the greatest damage she'd inflict would be to her own party. Now that people are finally realizing she was never working for justice, the fallout is starting to happen. … When someone tells you that stopping the person abusing you is "not worth it", believe them. That tells you what kind of person they are.

Pelosi isn't representing the Dem party, 70% of which are for impeachment. She is an outlier who jokes with Bill Barr. I encourage you to boost the reps who *are* concerned for our country and welfare. Don't look for saviors, period -- but falling for phony saviors is even worse!

Debra Miller tweeted a response:

I predict that Pelosi will go down in history as the second most despised majority leader. Mitch wins hands down but Pelosi has been the willing accomplice. And just like the Iraq war, we will have protestations of "we didn't know." BS, we told you then and we're telling you now.

Back in March Kendzior tweeted a list of 81 people and organizations that the House Judiciary Committee has asked to come before them. The list includes: Carter Page, Don Jr., Erik Prince, Hope Hicks, Jared Kushner, Jeff Sessions, Michael Flynn, Paul Manafort, Roger Stone, Steve Bannon, Trump Transition, and the NRA. Kendzior now adds:

I want you to imagine all these people at impeachment hearings -- or at the least, discussion of their activity at impeachment hearings. And then ask yourself: why is the House Democratic leadership protecting them by forbidding this process?

Many people, including Kendzior, have long suspected that many Republicans in Washington have been compromised by the Russians or others. This comment by Kendzior makes me wonder how many of the Democrats, maybe even Pelosi, have also been compromised.

It has now gotten so far… Elizabeth de la Vega tweeted:

If Dems never conduct a formal House Judiciary Committee impeachment inquiry, Trump's 2020 message will be that Dems' failure to conduct impeachment proceedings "proves" that even *they* didn't think he did anything that was all that bad, including his obstruction of justice.

To which Kendzior replied:

This is correct, and Trump has already used this framing, thanking Pelosi for not impeaching him and claiming it's because he never did anything wrong.

And that old hoary claim that the 2020 election will save us?

Joan McCarter of Daily Kos reports on the Gravedigger of Democracy:

Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell is doing everything in his power to keep Donald Trump in the White House, even if that means keeping American elections systems vulnerable to hacking by Russia, or any other foreign power that wants to intervene. He's already done it a couple of times: when he shut down a public information effort on Russian attempts to hack the 2016 election, and when he blocked legislation to protect elections from advancing last year, ahead of the 2018 balloting.

No matter that Election Assistance Commission (EAC) officials are urgently pleading for assistance for 2020. Sen. Roy Blunt, Senate Rules Committee chairman, told officials in a hearing Wednesday that his boss, McConnell, wouldn't be allowing legislation already passed by the House to come to the Senate floor.

Sen. Dick Durban said:

I hope you catch the irony here that at the CIA and intelligence agencies, millions of dollars are being spent to stop the Russians from making a mess of the 2020 election, and yet, in the United States Senate, we can't bring a bill to the floor to even debate it.

That news prompted a tweet from Craig Unger:

Its worse than irresponsible. It borders on treasonous. It’s an invitation for hostile foreign powers to sabotage our election, to assault out sovereignty—all, presumably to re-elect a man who was installed with Russia’s help and will continue to serve its interests