Up to now, the Democrats have had the best of all worlds.  As they say in baseball, they've been swinging against the batting practice pitcher.  As any major-leaguer will tell you, the pitches break a little differently when there is a guy on the mound trying to get you out.

Well, that's where we are now that the Democrats have decided to proceed with articles of impeachment.  In other words, they will need a lot more than partisan hacks pretending to be scholars to persuade the American people.

President Trump is already calling their bluff: "Trump Challenges 'Do Nothing Democrats': 'If You Are Going to Impeach Me, Do it Now, Fast'."

Speaker Pelosi will face another task: how do we get to 218, or the mere majority required?

First, she won't get a single GOP vote.  The hearings were such a sham that they turned off any potential moderate willing to go along with an impeachment vote.

Second, she will have to persuade the public, and it may be difficult, as we saw in this recent poll:

Many Americans appear to have made up their minds about whether Trump committed an impeachable offense, but what do they think should happen to Trump next? 

This time, we asked respondents how they thought the impeachment process should end for Trump: Should he be impeached by the House and removed from office by the Senate? Or should his fate be decided in the 2020 election? 

Respondents were slightly more likely to say that the voters should determine what happens to Trump's presidency (51 percent), while 47 percent said Congress should impeach him and remove him from office.

And that's the challenge for Democrats!  It appears that Americans would rather wait until November and settle this at the ballot box.

So let's see what happens!  My money is on Trump surviving and winning politically.

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