What is it about this impeachment that is so valuable to Democrats that they feel justified risking a flimsy impeachment strategy today, knowing that it could be used against them tomorrow? 

Legal scholars and political pundits are justifiably worried about the implications President Trump’s impeachment holds for America’s future.  Not only will tomorrow’s presidents be vulnerable to political vendettas, coups to undo election results, and frivolous attacks on policy and ideology by a House mob run amok, but our entire constitutional republic, and the separation of powers and checks and balances on which it is built, are in jeopardy.   

The Democrats are certainly motivated by their short-term goals of ousting Trump, disrupting his presidency, and creating chaos for the 2020 elections.  But an impeachment on such a shaky foundation does not serve them well in the long-term, especially if the tables should turn and they are sitting in the White House while Republicans control the House.

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What makes this entire impeachment risk worth their while is… the judiciary. It’s their secret sauce.

For decades, the Democrats have had an ideological lock on the judiciary.  It has been their failsafe for policy when they are unable to pass desired legislation, promulgate burdensome regulations, or effect change with either a swipe of the President’s pen or by propaganda delivered through the media, the educational system, and Hollywood. 

Then along comes “Trump the Indefatigable” who has completely changed the complexion of the judiciary in the last three years by appointing 187 federal judges, including two Supreme Court justices.  One in four circuit court judges is a Trump appointee and he has flipped the very liberal Second and Third Circuits, (NY, CT, VT and NJ, PA, DE, Virgin Islands, respectively) as well as the Eleventh Circuit (FL, AL, GA).  He has strikingly leveled the playing field in the oft-reversed, very progressive 9th Circuit and is one appointment away from equalizing the number of Democrat and Republican-appointed judges in the 1st, 4th,  and 10th Circuits. 

This is an astounding accomplishment that concomitantly delivers a resounding death blow to the Democrats and (grin) has them quaking in their goose-stepping boots.  They know, all too well, the power of the judiciary to influence legislation and drive the culture. 

Of the 20 House impeachments against federal officers, three have been against presidents, one each against a Senator and a Cabinet Secretary, but (lightbulb moment) the majority of them have been against 15 federal judges, including Supreme Court Justice Samuel Chase. 

Short of forcing a resignation, the only path Democrats have to oust Republican-appointed federal judges or Supreme Court Justices is by (ta-da!) impeachment.  It is the only way they can unravel what could be decades of distasteful conservative precedent that could put a gun in every pocket, allow people to bake their cakes or pray away the gay, force women into childbirth, separate innocent children from their parents at the border, and combat global warming hysteria. With the entire liberal agenda at stake, what’s a little risk for the Democrats especially when they can just switch positions and make up more lies should they ever be on the receiving end of a revenge impeachment.

Crocodile tears, patriotic quotes, and customized writing implements aside, this impeachment has nothing to do with the Constitution and justice, as Wile E. Pelosi and her cast of cartoon characters would have you believe.  There are many juicy layers to this impeachment nothingburger.  There is the obvious:  disrupting the potential for unity among Republicans at the Senate trial and into 2020 as the GOP battles its more moderate RINO elements.  

Nestled among the layers is the nifty narrative it gives Democrats for 2020 regardless of who their nominee is -- Democrats can use (and have been using) the impeachment story to raise funds, campaign against Trump, and froth up their base without the distractions and unknown outcome of their volatile nomination process.  With an economy firing on all cylinders and a host of foreign policy successes, the Dems are short on ammo to rail against Trump except for their impeachment barbs.

But it’s the secret judiciary sauce that turns what has become something of an impeachment nothingburger into a real whopper.  Although it has definitely been a distraction and a disruption, the impeachment needle hasn’t moved much with the country basically divided along party lines.  As unlikely as the impeachment seemed last summer and after all of the delays, Trump was indeed impeached, and the trial and removal are in the Senate’s hands.  No doubt, removing Trump and thwarting his re-election are deeply held desires of the Left, but as both are longshots and appear increasingly unlikely, the whopper behind this impeachment is its utility as a weapon of conservative judicial destruction.

This wouldn’t be the first time Democrats tested an idea and then used it as a template for future endeavors.  After the Left destroyed Robert Bork’s Supreme Court nomination, “borking” entered the political lexicon and the Democrat playbook as a way to take out conservative nominees. 

The tactics Democrats utilized to turn Colorado blue, were memorialized in Adam Schrager and Rob Witwer’s The Blueprint:  How the Democrats Won Colorado (and Why Republicans EVERYWHERE Should Care) and became the literal blueprint to de-redden states like Nevada, Arizona, North Carolina, Texas, Georgia and Florida.  Democrats would carpet bomb targeted campaigns and candidates with outside money, resources, activists, lies, smears, and propaganda.  Republicans were largely ineffective at combating these tactics -- they were stuck in the Dark Ages running their campaigns and failed to  prepare candidates or stand by them when Democrats did their dirty work.

As a result, blatant lying has become standard fare dished out by Democrats with impunity.  Harry Reid lied about Romney failing to pay taxes; Pelosi lied about “do me” versus “do us” a favor on the Zelensky call; Schiff brazenly lied about the Zelensky call, mischaracterizing it as a scene from a Mob movie; Eric Swalwell repeatedly lied that the President was a “Russian Agent” before any investigation had commenced; and Comey’s henchmen lied to General Flynn about his need for an attorney at their infamous meeting.  These are just a few examples.  And there really isn’t a downside.  If they don’t actually torpedo the opposition, at least reputations will be irreversibly soiled.

Even if the President is not removed, the Democrats’ efforts will not have been in vain.  They will use lessons learned and replicate tactics deployed during the Impeachment Wars against conservative judges -- blasting the media with exaggerated and unsubstantiated accusations, defaming the target, enlisting invisible whistleblowers as accusers and allowing prosecutors who are witnesses to lead the way, all while preventing transparency and denying the accused almost every conceivable guarantee of due process allowed under the Constitution.

We can’t build an effective counter strategy without acknowledging the secret sauce.  Knowing this is in the cards, we need to establish defense funds to help judges who might be targeted. If we retake the House and retain the Senate in 2020, we must enact legislation that will prevent frivolous impeachments (just as we have to prevent frivolous law suits that clog up the federal courts and harm defendants) and the penalty must have enough teeth to serve as an effective deterrent.

The Democrat machine is relentless, and we cannot afford to stick our heads in the sand as we did after we lost Colorado.  Trump will only be in office another one to five years, but his appointments will endure for decades, so we must go on offense in order to defend them or the Trump years will have been for naught.