Unless you are completely oblivious to politics then you likely know that Donald Trump is now the third U.S. president to be impeached by the House of Representatives. Now Trump’s fate rests at the Senate which is likely to skip an official proceeding and skip straight to the exoneration of Trump. But something caught my attention on Wednesday night, after the votes on the two articles of impeachment – Nancy Pelosi was noncommittal as to when the House would send over the two impeachment articles. So, it got me thinking – a pocket impeachment?
I am just guessing here, and I have no knowledge except for my thoughts on this.
Most readers know about the “pocket veto”. It is technique where a president does not sign a bill into law leaving it stagnant without the ability for it to become law. The idea being that the bill dies when the legislative session ends, in effect killing the legislation.
Nancy Pelosi has told the news media that she won’t be sending the bill over until she feels the Senate will fairly handle the impeachment articles. This may or may not be true. But by not sending the impeachment articles to the Senate, in effect, Nancy Pelosi keeps Donald J. Trump impeached without the ability to proclaim vindication or even exoneration by the Senate.
While the Senate cannot hold its hearings on the articles of impeachment, it cannot “exonerate” Donald Trump and thus Donald Trump loses the spin of arguing that he was “exonerated” of the charges.
Some may be thinking that the Senate would withhold signing House legislation in retaliation. That is likely true, but Donald Trump desperately needs the USMCA to be adopted. So do the Democrats, but Trump needs a “win” as the year closes out.
The Senate would be under pressure to pass the USMCA legislation and thus the Democrats can argue they are working while the articles of impeachment remain in Pelosi’s desk.
But it gets better, the House can continue to wait for the courts to deal with the pending cases on Trump’s financial records and pending subpoenas that are winding through the courts. Should the Democrats prevail in the courts, they can add to, or create a new set of articles of impeachment as new information becomes available.
In the meantime, the impeachment process can be argued as concluded giving the Democrats the ability to focus on the legislation and blame Trump and the Republicans for stalling on much needed legislation.
If my thinking is correct, then Nancy Pelosi masterfully handled the impeachment of Donald J. Trump while dealing with the politics of the country.
