On the heels of the inauguration, Democrats have been full of bravado about the incoming President Joe Biden administration and the ouster of former President Donald Trump.
Liberal lawmakers remained gung-ho on impeachment since the Capitol building storming — and attempt to bar Trump from running in 2024.
Since then, support has dwindled. And with it, all that bravado among liberal lawmakers in Congress has disappeared.
Sen. Tim Kaine, D-Va. — Hillary Clinton’s former vice presidential running mate in 2016 — just admitted it.
He’s saying what the rest of the Democrats are thinking: he’s extremely worried that impeachment is going to fall flat.
“I’m very worried about going through this trial and having the punch line at the end, being Trump acquitted again,” he told reporters.
Sen. Tim Kaine: "I'm very worried about going through this trial and having the punch line at the end, being Trump acquitted again." https://t.co/0VBIGsa6k2 pic.twitter.com/Oa3posVAc4
— The Hill (@thehill) February 2, 2021
What initially led him to this conclusion, was his discussion of censuring Trump as a backup punishment of sorts for Trump’s role in the Capitol storming — a plan b that has since been scrapped due to the lack of overall support.
“We don’t have enough support on the Republican side because they don’t want to bar Trump from running from office,” Kaine told reporters, “and I don’t have enough support on the Democratic side because, for most of my colleagues, it’s impeachment or nothing.”
So another major Democratic voice within the party is all but confirming they won’t be getting any help from the GOP.
And on the flip side, Democrats are all in on impeachment — and likely consider anything less than that is a failure.
With the impeachment trial six days away, things couldn’t have turned out all that much more disastrous for Democrats.
And yet again, they find themselves in a similar pitfall they found themselves in leading up to the 2016 election.
Fixated on Donald J. Trump.
The Horn editorial team