Impeach or not to impeach, that's the big question.

Of the TWENTY candidates lined up for the Democratic Party presidential nomination list, only two have so far come out in favour of impeaching Donald Trump. Elizabeth Warren and my favurite Kamala Harris, have made the big step, although I suspect neither thinks it would succeed. Impeachment of a US president is such a big deal and Republicans would fight to stop it at all costs. There are grounds for arguing that the Mueller report uncovered an unseemly mess at the White House, revealing a president willing to abuse the constitution and justice system. But the president of the United States does have huge executive powers and Trump would argue that everything he did to try and thwart the investigation into the alleged, and now dismissed, accusation of a conspiracy with Russia to keep Hillary Clinton out of the White House was because he was Innocent OK and therefore had a right to shout and scream about a witchhunt. That's basically the argument put forward by William Barr, the attorney general. Not exactly a legal judgment but a personal explanation on behalf of the man who appointed him. So are Elizabeth Warren and Kamala Harris unwise to put their foot into the impeachment pool? Well, I guess it's quite courageous because they don't have the support of the whole Democratic Party and they certainly don't have the backing of Nancy Pelosi who is as shrewd as they come. She realises that a push for impeachment just might go against the Democrats and screw up their chances of defeating Trump in 2020. Far better, Pelosi thinks, to attack Trump on the basis of the findings of the Mueller report but without going the whole hog and putting the president in the dock. I think Pelosi is right. Impeachment would be so divisive it would unite the Republicans and possibly the voters to turn against the Democratic presidential candidates. But Warren and Harris in their wisdom have decided to go for it. We will see whether it works against them in the next few months. Of course we're still waiting for Joe Biden to announce his candidature and if he does, will he perhaps call for impeachment of Trump? I doubt it. He's going to play safe. I can see Warren and Harris probably backing away from their current position on impeaching Trump. But they have both made a stand and it will show to voters that they are not afraid of making tough decisions. That can't be bad in the long term.