- The Washington Times - Wednesday, December 11, 2019

House Republican Whip Steve Scalise is keeping track of the impeachment habits of the Democratic Party, citing House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, who declared that it was a “solemn day” as she launched two articles of impeachment against President Trump. Actually, this makes the fourth “solemn day” that Mrs. Pelosi and the Democratic Party have treated themselves to so far.

“She failed to note that Democrats have had at least three other ’solemn days’ over the past two years,” the Louisiana Republican says, reminding the accusers that they’ve repeatedly tried to impeach Mr. Trump for speaking out against NFL players who did not stand for the national anthem, again after the president used an unflattering epithet to describe certain nations, and a third time for his criticism of “The Squad” of four Democratic congresswomen.

“And while Democrats have based their most recent impeachment effort entirely on President Trump’s July 25th phone call with Ukrainian President Zelensky, Speaker Pelosi also failed to note that 104 current Democrats had voted to impeach President Trump before that phone call ever happened — including Judiciary Chairman Jerry Nadler and 16 other Democrats on the Judiciary Committee,” Mr. Scalise points out.

“That’s right: 104 out of 233 current Democrats voted for impeachment before the July phone call even took place. That’s 44% of the entire Democrat caucus,” he continues.

When you’re willing to impeach the president for anything and everything he does, filing another two articles of impeachment isn’t a “solemn day,” it’s just business as usual,” Mr. Scalise says. “The entire impeachment process has been rigged from the start.”

And one moment of hilarity: The president currently enjoys a fairly respectable job approval rating of 43% while Congress languishes at a 22% job approval according to a new Monmouth University poll.

HISTORIC HILLARY

Former House Speaker Newt Gingrich offers a little historic context to the looming prospect that Hillary Clinton just might run for the White House — which would be her third try.

“If Hillary runs she becomes the William Jennings Bryan of our time,” Mr. Gingrich notes in a tweet, citing the Democratic congressman from Nebraska who indeed ran for president three times, and eventually served as U.S. Secretary of State.

“He lost three times in 1896, 1900, 1908. Hillary has it in her to lose a third time, Mr. Gingrich noted, adding, “Hillary please make our day.”

MEANWHILE IN CALIFORNIA

Former California governors Arnold Schwarzenegger and Jerry Brown will appear on Thursday to be recognized for their “solar leadership.”

This designation does not have anything to do with a potential sci-fi action film for Mr. Schwarzenegger. It also is not a clever play on Mr. Brown’s old nickname, which was “Governor Moonbeam” once upon a time. Nor does it reflect Mr. Brown’s status as executive chairman of the Bulletin of Atomic Scientists, a nonprofit organization in charge of the Doomsday Clock — the symbolic timepiece that tells the world how close we are to nuclear Armageddon.

The pair will be in the city of Clovis to celebrate the fact that one million solar-paneled roofs now have been installed in California.

As governor. Mr. Schwarzenegger signed the Million Solar Roofs Initiative into law in 2006, which set the goal of reaching, well, one million solar roofs. The two governators will address the crowd from a podium made of solar panels. And the next project?

“Clean energy advocates will turn their attention to a new goal: building a million solar-charged batteries as a way to reach the state’s 100% clean energy goals reliably, safely, and cost-effectively,” advises the Schwazenegger Institute, a policy research organization at the University of Southern California.

HERE COME THE IMPEACHMENT BOOKS

It was inevitable. After special counsel Robert Mueller’s report was released last year, multiple news organizations and publishers scrambled to release the contents of the report in book form, adding their own commentary and noteworthy packaging. The House Permanent Select Committee on Intelligence’s lengthy report on President Trump’s possible impeachment is getting the same treatment.

A full-length book based on the report is due out Dec. 24 from Skyhorse Publishing, an independent publisher that is readying a 504-page edition titled “The Impeachment Report: The House Intelligence Committee’s Report on the Trump-Ukraine Investigation, with House Republicans’ Rebuttal.”

Constitutional scholar and New York Times bestselling author Alan Dershowitz — who has been critical of Democratic attempts to impeach Mr. Trump — will write the introduction.

“The Democrats have now announced that they intend to propose only two grounds for impeachment: abuse of power and obstruction of congress. Neither is specified as a ground for impeachment in the constitution. Neither is a high crime and misdemeanor. They have apparently dropped the only specified ground, namely bribery. A vote to impeach President Trump on grounds not specified in the constitution would be unconstitutional and void,” the publisher notes in an advance sample of the Mr. Dershowitz’s contribution.

“As an independent publisher, we’re eager to find ways to reach readers, and our ability to move quickly has enabled us to be successful in unexpected ways, including with timely, important political books,” says Tony Lyons, founder of Skyhorse.

Oh, but wait. There’s already some competition. Broadway Books also has a book based on the House report with an introduction by author and historian Jon Meacham arriving later in the month as well.

POLL DU JOUR

71% of Americans say people are already “set in their opinions” about President Trump; 73% of Republicans, 68% of independents and 73% of Democrats agree.

50% say Mr. Trump should not be impeached and forced out of office; 88% of Republicans, 55% of independents and 11% of Democrats agree.

49% are not concerned that Mr. Trump is “too friendly toward Russia”; 77% of Republicans, 57% of independents and 13% of Democrats agree.

49% say Mr. Trump’s “attitude” towards Russia does not present a national security threat; 84% of Republicans, 54% of independents and 9% of Democrats agree.

43% approve of the job Mr. Trump is doing; 84% of Republicans, 44% of independents and 5% of Democrats agree.

22% approve of the job Congress is doing; 12% of Republicans, 19% of independents and 34% of Democrats agree.

Source: A Monmouth University poll of 903 U.S. adults conducted Dec. 4-8.

• Kindly follow Jennifer Harper on Twitter @HarperBulletin.

• Jennifer Harper can be reached at jharper@washingtontimes.com.

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