In trying to rationalize his support for President Donald Trump’s impeachment in the face of polls showing most Americas now oppose it, a top Democrat speaking at the House Judiciary Committee’s impeachment debate Wednesday accidentally let the cat out the bag.

Rep. Ted Deutch, who also chairs the House Ethics Committee, ironically enough, basically admitted that his party’s efforts to remove the president from office stem entirely from their dislike of him, his political ideology and his agenda for the country.

The Democrat lawmaker admitted this while trying to justify his support for impeachment by speaking about his children’s concerns regarding the president.

Listen:

“I asked my kids on our family group text what they thought at this moment, and they responded almost immediately, and they told me what they were feeling, and what their friends were feeling,” he said. “And they confirmed the worst: their faith in our democracy is shaken.”

And? Conservatives felt similarly during former President Barack Hussein Obama’s eight years in office. Yet despite retaking the House in 2010 and the Senate in 2014, there was never any widespread effort among them to impeach the then-president.

“One of my kids said, ‘Trump has made me feel like our country is failing. He has taken away America’s common sense,'” Deutch continued.

There may be truth to that, given as it takes an extreme lack of common sense to describe America as a “failing nation” when the economy is in fact booming out of control.

“Another said, ‘If our democracy is fragile enough to be manipulated by the president, then I worry for our future as a country,'” the Democrat lawmaker added.

“Why is our democracy so fragile? Well, the president smears the press as the enemy of the people. He attacks verifiable facts and calls them fake news. He attacks his opponents in the ugliest and the most hateful ways.”

And? Obama not only routinely demonized Fox News but also spied — literally spied — on one of its top reporters, James Rosen. But again, there was no widespread, concerted effort to remove him from office through impeachment.

Why didn’t they impeach Obama? Because no matter how much they disliked the guy, Republicans knew that impeachment is a serious process that requires serious charges. And while Obama certainly didn’t run a scandal-free administration, Republican congressional leaders agreed at the time that there just wasn’t enough evidence to impeach.

Interestingly, the same argument has been posited about the Democrats’ ongoing impeach efforts — that the evidence is lacking and “inadequate.”

Jonathan Turley, a civil libertarian, legal scholar, attorney and George Washington University Law School professor who didn’t vote for Trump, bluntly testified at one of the hearings earlier this month that the evidence is “woefully inadequate.”

Listen:

Yet Democrats have persisted in their impeachment hunt nevertheless, leading some to wonder why they’re risking it all politically for something that’s not only polling badly but that’s ultimately pointless, since the Senate will never convict Trump.

And well, according to social media users it seems like Deutch may have just provided an answer. They’re continuing with this “witch hunt,” as the president has called it, because the president makes them and their children “feel” bad, ?:

This Democrat backbencher did an excellent job of making it extremely clear that Democrats are impeaching President Trump simply because they do not like him. https://t.co/EhuHHMC6O2 — Matt Wolking (Text TRUMP to 88022) (@MattWolking) December 12, 2019

Not one of them have any facts, only objections because their kids and puppies hate Trump. I don’t want to see Trump just win in 2020, I want to see them obliterated. — BrewPub Politics (@BrewpubPolitics) December 12, 2019

Feelings. Nothing more than feelings. — Bonnie Wishnietsky (@BWishnietsky) December 12, 2019

This is the absolutely best way to encapsulate the impeachment. A democrat talking about the feelings of his kids in a group chat. That’s what we’re down to. — David Milinazzo (@davemilinazzo) December 12, 2019

“My kids feelings and mine are hurt beacuse we have the best economy, strongest military, and our country Is at peace.” Democrats — JM ? (@Jlm9022) December 12, 2019

He shouldn’t be relying on what his children are feeling. He must need to know what they are feeling so he can decide what he is feeling. Feelings gets in the way of making accurate decisions! — Glen Sparks (@GlenSparks5) December 12, 2019

Democrats make decisions based on feelings and emotions. Republicans make decisions based on facts and reality. That’s just the way it is. — Dal Mar (@Dalmar31) December 12, 2019

But why do they feel bad in the face of such positive news for America and its economy? Because, conservative radio show host Rush Limbaugh has argued, they still resent the president for overcoming expectations and winning the 2016 presidential election.

He’s based this thesis on one simple piece of evidence:

BREAKING: In CNN interview this a.m., Clinton consultant Paul Begala said he met privately w Nancy Pelosi right after the Dems won the House in 2018 to discuss impeaching President Trump. Begala also said Dems will have to keep impeaching Trump if he’s not removed & is reelected — Paul Sperry (@paulsperry_) December 5, 2019

“This is something they have been planning regardless of substance. They are doing this because Trump won. … They are fulfilling a political objective they’ve had since the moment they realized they’d lost the election in November of 2016,” Limbaugh said last week.

“The impeachment of Donald Trump is not because he’s a bad president. It’s not because he’s broken the law. It’s not because he’s committed any impeachable offense. It’s because they don’t like him. It’s because they hate him. It’s because they hate you.”

And so do their children, apparently …