Nancy Pelosi throws ice-cold water on impeachment

After weeks and weeks of negative media stories about President Donald Trump, Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi told her caucus on a conference call this afternoon that she’s still not going to begin impeachment proceedings:

Meanwhile, @SpeakerPelosi on a call with House Dems speaks to impeachment, given the growing list of her members who support an inquiry.

Her first point, and perhaps the most important: "The public isn’t there on impeachment."

— Rachael Bade (@rachaelmbade) August 23, 2019

You see, she needs “leverage”:

On impeachment, Pelosi told Rep. Watson-Coleman “the public isn’t there" and asked her to "give me the leverage I need to make sure that we’re ready and it is as strong as it can be."

"But if and when we act, people will know he gave us no choice."

— Jennifer Bendery (@jbendery) August 23, 2019

But members can do whatever they want:

Speaker Pelosi reiterated again on conference call with her members today that each are free to do what he/she believes is best regarding impeachment but that she intends to follow the facts + noted that "the public isn’t there on impeachment"

— Alex Moe (@AlexNBCNews) August 23, 2019

Data guy Nate Silver is backing her up, noting that even if Trump were impeached he’d still finish out his term:

There's this extreeeeeeeeeeeeeeemly weird thing where a certain sort of resistance bro just sort of leaves out the rather important complication that impeaching Trump almost certainly wouldn't result in his removal from office.

— Nate Silver (@NateSilver538) August 23, 2019

Also the rationale for impeachment seems to have shifted from Russia to "Trump is generally unhinged" or "RBG has cancer" or "he's unduly attempting to influence the Federal Reserve Chairman" or a million other things.

— Nate Silver (@NateSilver538) August 23, 2019

Of note, public opinion of impeachment has decreased as more Dems rally to the idea:

Meanwhile, despite the insistence that public support for impeachment would go up if more Democrats came out in favor of it, a whole bunch of Democrats have come out in favor of impeachment and public support has… decreased. https://t.co/kJzc1sOUj3

— Nate Silver (@NateSilver538) August 23, 2019

Whoops.

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