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Moreover, those Democrats clamoring for impeachment face at least four practical barriers.

First, public opinion is dead set against impeachment. The only hope impeachment advocates have of winning over even a majority of voters is to demonstrate their own good faith in pursuing facts during hearings, call compelling witnesses such as special counsel Robert S. Mueller III and former White House counsel Donald McGahn to speak to the American people, and give Trump enough rope to hang himself (i.e., engage in stonewalling and executive overreach that alarms voters). As to the latter, President Trump is doing a fine job of displaying dangerous disregard for any constitutional limitations on the president.

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Second, without impeachment on the table, the House still can enlist the courts to compel Trump to comply with subpoenas, and to rebuke him for violating the core principles of checks and balances. House Democrats run the risk, to be sure, of losing in court, but given the preposterous position Trump’s lawyers are taking, the House stands a good chance of convincing courts that the judicial branch should act to preserve our constitutional system. (So far, 200 senators and representatives have achieved such assistance from the judicial branch in a slightly different context, the alleged violation of the emoluments clause.)

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Third, it behooves the House to wait until it can obtain Trump’s tax returns, get discovery of other financial information in the emoluments case, call witnesses who can testify as to his business practices and receive the results of the dozen or so cases — including the investigation by federal prosecutors for the Southern District of New York — spun off from the Mueller investigation, as well as the inquiries underway by the New York state attorney general. Trump has always been most concerned with investigation into his finances. It stands to reason if there is clear, easy to explain evidence of financial wrongdoing, the entire Russia probe may become secondary. If the president is shown to be a crook, the American people very well may adopt a different attitude toward removal or, at the very least, toward his reelection. Keep in mind, the House doesn’t yet have even the unredacted Mueller report, let alone evidence pertaining to matters outside Mueller’s purview.

Put it this way: Is it better for Democrats to go into the 2020 election with Trump buoyed after the Senate fails to remove him from office, or to go into 2020 election with a desperate, floundering president who’s been slapped down by multiple courts and continues to declare that Congress isn’t allowed to investigate him? Pelosi thinks it is the latter and, given her track record, do House members really want to second-guess her? Apparently, none willing to speak up with her in the room.