Impeachment inquiry: is it worth it?

The case for an impeachment inquiry and why House focus on Stormy Daniels is stupid.

Most impeachments happened in the second term. If Trump is re-elected and the Senate flips blue, history could repeat itself. There is no time to go through the impeachment process before November 2020 presidential elections and so long as Moscow Mitch controls the Senate, any impeachment referred to the Senate for trial would be dead on arrival. So why bother? By beginning the process now and getting testimony on the record, along with the Mueller report already being read into the Congressional Record, the groundwork is laid if Trump is re-elected. What is exposed in hearings however could make the Senate trial moot because the hearings so close to the election could contribute to the defeat of Trump in November by reminding voters of substantive reasons to vote against him at the time when it counts..nearer November 2020. This would be particularly true if those impeachment inquiry hearings uncover more evidence of the President's wrongdoing. Financial crimes or evidence of blackmail were not explored by the Mueller Special Counsel investigation or included in his report. There may be no there there, but there are many unknowns that could still become known during Congressional hearings.

Reports are House Democrats plan to spend this fall, a year before the elections, in developing a technically legal case for impeachment based upon exposing Trump as having a direct role in paying off porn star Stormy Daniels to keep quiet during his campaign for president about a one night stand happening years before. This is a stupid strategy. It will divert attention from the truly "high crimes" he has committed. All the pursuit of the Stormy Daniels' saga will accomplish is to provide a sensational, lurid diversion from making the case for high crimes that indeed affect the course of public policy that could be considered treason or through holding hearings that could provide even more convincing evidence presented by Mueller of intentional obstruction of justice and abuse of power.

Trump may have been person #1 as a co-conspirator in the Michael Cohen case. I am one of those who believes the reason the Senate did not vote for removing Bill Clinton from office was that his dalliance with an intern with a blue dress and his lying about it did not rise to a high crime either. Lying about it may be a crime, but a "low" one does not have an impact on the well-being and security of citizens. If the only hook for Democrats to claim Trump committed a crime is Stormy Daniels' pay off, the Democrats are in trouble. They should be bringing attention instead to the true high crimes of obstruction of justice and any proof Trump's policies of making Russia great again in his bromance with Putin was not the result of "kompromat" or blackmail.

 There are far more impactful transgressions committed by the Trump administration to remind swing voters about reasons they should not vote for Trump in 2020. There are transgressions that affect human lives and matters of upholding the rule of law as in the obstruction of justice and abuse of power, and violations of human rights with cruelty to children, not to mention playing footsie with the Russians and tax policies that failed to trickle down. Above all, his stated goal of repealing affordable insurance coverage of pre-existing health conditions contributed to the House turning blue in 2018 and should not be buried by other more sensational and less consequential legal arguments in 2020. 

That the president is a scofflaw, a liar, an immoral sexual predator, a white nationalist, a misogynist, a science denier, a wannabe dictator, greedy to make a dime, who uses unethical methods to achieve his goals are hardly accusations or news to swing voters. These characteristics are already baked into the minds of voters. These are traits tolerated, denied,  or ignored by his dedicated and loyal base so long as the economy holds and he keeps stacking the courts with the like-minded. Disgust with his personal behavior is already reflected in the 2018 election and with suburban women impacting polls in 2019. Focus on pay-offs to a porn star or boasting on Access Hollywood tapes about grabbing women are no longer shocking game-changers. 

For an alternative view of this, watch
 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=a3xHzVe3MY4&feature=push-fr&attr_tag=_9vHeqe7ELfwWEO7%3A6

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/High_crimes_and_misdemeanors