Here is something that happened while we were all watching John Delaney turn into a mannequin Tom Dewey on national television.

Here is another thing.

And another.

Two more.

And one more.

More than half of the members of the Democratic caucus have pronounced themselves in favor of an impeachment inquiry and, as is obvious, more of the Senate Democrats are starting to come around, too. From The New York Times:

It was not necessarily supposed to go that way. The House’s departure last Friday was expected to lower the temperature around the prospect of a formal impeachment inquiry against President Trump. An unexpected declaration by the House Judiciary Committee in court papers on Friday that an impeachment investigation was effectively already underway might well have cooled matters further.

But far from relieving pressure, the Judiciary Committee’s legal maneuver may have actually eased the way for more Democrats to come forward. Two high-ranking senators, Patty Murray of Washington and Debbie Stabenow of Michigan, also joined the fray this week. “The president’s repeated abuses have brought American democracy to a perilous crossroads,” Mr. Engel said. “Following the guidance of the Constitution — which I have sworn to uphold — is the only way to achieve justice.”

Boy, imagine how red-hot the issue would be had the "optics" of Robert Mueller's appearance before two House committees last week not been so bad.

It's hard to see how Speaker Nancy Pelosi resists putting a possible inquiry to a vote much longer. It's an open secret that Judiciary Committee Chairman Jerrold Nadler is straining at the leash to get started. (Just a guess, but I wonder if the president*'s transparent lie about working at Ground Zero in lower Manhattan the other day touched off something in Nadler, who actually did.) It has become a safe political position to take, even for rookie MOC's from purplish districts. (Both Wexton and Jason Crow, who flipped Republican districts last fall, have come out for the inquiry.) And, as it seems the president* is bound and determined to make it happen because he thinks it will help him politically, maybe it's time to oblige him and see what happens.

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Charles P. Pierce Charles P Pierce is the author of four books, most recently Idiot America, and has been a working journalist since 1976.

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