OPINION:
House Oversight Committee Ranking Member Jim Jordan, in a series of scathing tweets, ripped Democrats in general and Speaker Nancy Pelosi in particular for caving to “unrelenting pressure” and launching the impeachment inquiry the “socialist wing” of the party has been pressing “since the beginning of this Congress.”
He’s right to rip.
He’s wrong on the time frame, though.
Jordan tweeted: “Democrats have been trying to impeach the [p]resident since the beginning of this Congress. — Michael Cohen’s testimony was a bust. — John Dean’s testimony was a waste of time. — The Mueller report did not live up to the hype.”
Actually, Democrats, along with others, have been talking about impeaching Donald Trump since before he even took office. Since before he was even inaugurated.
There was this racy headline, from Vanity Fair on Nov. 14, 2016: “Will Trump Be Impeached?”
Then this, yet another Vanity Fair piece, on Dec. 15, 2016: “Democrats Are Paving the Way to Impeach Donald Trump.”
There was this, from The New York Times, in an opinion headline from Nov. 3, 2016: “Donald Trump’s Impeachment Threat.”
Remember: Trump wasn’t inaugurated until Jan. 20, 2017. He wasn’t even elected president until Nov. 8, 2016.
Remember, too: The Republican Party primaries didn’t wrap until June 2016. And Trump wasn’t formally nominated at the Republican National Convention as the Republican Party’s candidate for president until July 19, 2016.
Yet Politico, on April 17, 2016, posed this in a headline: “Could Trump be impeached shortly after he takes office?” The piece went on to state that “It’s highly improbable, but everyone from law scholars to political junkies are speculating about it.”
April 17, 2016.
Before Trump was even the GOP’s chosen one.
And definitely before Trump was even the elected one.
“Donald Trump isn’t even the Republican nominee yet,” as Politico wrote at the time. “But his incendiary rhetoric … has critics on the right and the left discussing the most extreme of countermeasures at an unusually early point in the race.”
The piece went on to note that everyone from constitutional scholars, media pundits and members of Congress — both Democrats and Republicans, liberals and conservatives — were talking up the impeachment of Trump. And that’s before he was elected. That’s before he was inaugurated. That’s before he took office.
Imagine that.
Kind of gives buoyancy to those who think the whole “Impeach Trump” rally cry is more bogus than based on any sort of justice for the American people. After all, it’s hard enough to impeach absent impeachable offense, never mind trying to impeach absent an office.
“@SpeakerPelosi’s decision to pursue impeachment now — on the basis of unsubstantiated, indirect, and anonymous allegations — only shows that the [s]peaker has finally succumbed to unrelenting pressure from the Socialist wing of the Democrat Party,” Jordan tweeted.
And he followed that with this: “This was never about Russian collusion or Ukrainian prosecutions. It is all about undoing the 2016 election and the will of the American people,” he wrote.
Have to agree.
So should you.
Grab the popcorn and settle in for the show. This 2020 White House ride is going to make 2016 seem tame by comparison.
• Cheryl Chumley can be reached at cchumley@washingtontimes.com or on Twitter, @ckchumley.
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