Ah, yes, we’re back to this again, releasing a version of some otherwise damning whatever that’s redacted and edited to make it look innocuous, even exonerating, hoping that the media falls for it, Dems don’t meaningfully fight to obtain access to the full whatever, and the public moves on to the next bright shiny object, as with the Mueller Report (whose usefulness for Dems is far from over IMO as I believe we’re about to see).
I don’t think it’s going to work this time. Nor the redacted and edited version of the phone call. I think that Dems have crossed a line and aren’t going back. If they do, they risk losing everything in 2020 by looking like feckless fools who are easily cowed. No one wants to vote for someone like that. They smell blood, they see an opportunity, they’ve taken on a mandate, and they simply can’t go back. They HAVE to go all the way, for both political and substantive reasons. And I believe they will, even if they’ll have to be pushed to it by more progressive members of their caucus and constituency.
The public, I believe, is looking to be led, to be given a good enough reason to support impeachment, and Dems are the only ones who can provide it, since they’re the only ones who can impeach. So far, they haven’t done this, not convincingly at least. That’s what this needs to be about, not only coming up with the formal evidentiary justification for impeachment, but also and especially with the plain as day political justification, to bring the public on board, without whose support impeachment could backfire.
Impeachment must be a sensationalist spectacle, one not overshadowed by process stories that the public will tune out, but which regularly highlights Trump’s most egregious crimes, that his oily charm, junkyard dog ferocity and scandal muddling skills can’t negate. Trump must be found guilty in the court of public opinion, and Dems have to make it their top priority to make that happen.
They need to hire top lawyers who are expert in such prosecution or litigation, who know how to put on a show, and then they have to unleash them to absolutely destroy Trump (and any Repubs who continue to support him) in the public view. Isolate him politically, make him politically radioactive, and even if he’s not removed, he’ll guarantee huge Dem gains in 2020.