Kurt Bardella

Opinion columnist

It’s the night of Nov. 3, 2020, and news networks are declaring President Donald Trump the winner. Democrats around the country are in shock, asking themselves, “How could this have happened again?” Take a good look at what happened last Wednesday and you’ll know why.

No, I’m not talking about the testimony from former special counsel Robert Mueller. I’m talking about what happened afterwards.

On one hand, you had House Speaker Nancy Pelosi declare that “what we saw today was a very strong manifestation — in fact some would even say indictment — of this administration's cone of silence and their cover-up. This is about the oath we take to protect and defend the Constitution. … This is very serious. Today was very important."

That’s about as strong and straightforward as you can get. But then, moments later, when asked about the expectation of some House Democrats regarding imminent action after Mueller’s testimony, Pelosi responded, “I don't know why they thought that. ... We have a number of lawsuits.”

Impeachment dithering looks weak

And just like that, any hope that Mueller’s appearance would prompt an immediate show of force from congressional Democrats was buried. Once again, party leaders are trying to have it both ways on impeachment. This has been the status quo for months, and it has only emboldened Trump to keep pushing the boundaries of executive authority.

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Democrats desperately need an escape from this limbo that they are trapped in. It really is a cell of their own making and if they don’t get out of it soon, they will hand-deliver Trump a second term.

The American people respond to decisiveness. No matter what you think about Trump and the Republicans in Congress, virtually everything they say and do is done with forcefulness and confidence.

GOP model: Move fast, never hesitate

When I worked at the House Oversight and Government Reform Committee during the Obama presidency, we never hesitated to launch an investigation, issue a subpoena or hold a public hearing. Our strategy was to do things fast, to do them first and to bombard our targets with a flurry of activity. We believed it was a lot harder to knock us down if we were moving than if we were standing still. For far too long, Democrats have been effectively running in place.

Post-Mueller, Democrats in Congress have two very clear choices: Either impeach Trump right now, or take impeachment off the table and change the channel — for good. The current, and I hesitate to call it a strategy, but the current reality of trying to placate the base while avoiding the potential political pitfalls of impeachment is no longer tenable. It was just a few weeks ago that the Democratic caucus was in open warfare with one another. Trump’s racist tweets and attacks against four Democratic women of color put a halt to the internal feuding, but that detente can only last so long.

Democrats need clarity. They need a direct path forward that bridges the distance between where we are today and where we will be on Election Day. The only way to do that is to address impeachment head-on. It is impossible to please everybody. The political reality is that no matter what you do, you will always alienate some segment of your base. But doing something is always better than doing nothing. Democrats cannot expect the voters to reward them in 2020 with even more power if they are so hesitant to use the power they have right now.

Impeach now or give it up

If the Democrats are going to initiate impeachment proceedings against Trump, then they need to do so right now. The longer this goes, the more likely these proceedings will overrun the 2020 primary process. They could have easily used the August congressional recess to initiate impeachment proceedings and hold impeachment hearings. Instead, they have all left town and will let the issue fester for the next six weeks.

In the place of a tangible path forward, Democrats have once again opted to play for more time. This time, they are using a new petition filed in federal court by the House Judiciary Committee to make the case that they need secret grand jury evidence from the Mueller investigation to “determine whether to recommend articles of impeachment against the president.”

There is no set timetable on when a judge will rule on this request, meaning that once again, Democrats have needlessly subjected themselves to an open-ended process.

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At this point, if Democrats truly believe they need more evidence than the Mueller report to move forward on impeachment, then it’s not going to happen. If impeachment is not going to happen, then Democratic leaders need to take it off the table once and for all. No more “wait and see,” no more internal deliberations, no more hesitation, no more playing for time. Just rip the Band-Aid off and move on. If Pelosi truly believes the best course of action is to let the voters decide Trump’s fate, then she needs to say so.

I don’t know what the right answer is, but what I do know is continuing to hold themselves hostage to the possibility of impeachment only makes congressional Democrats look like a quivering mass of indecision. It’s very simple: If the Democrats look weak and hesitant, the Republicans and Trump will win.

Kurt Bardella, a member of USA TODAY’s Board of Contributors, is a former spokesperson for Breitbart News and congressional Republicans, and a former senior adviser for the House Oversight and Government Reform Committee. Follow him on Twitter: @kurtbardella