"The Importance Of Hearings" by Al Franken
The Mueller Report is not an invitation for the House to impeach and the Senate to convict Donald Trump. It is an instruction. “No man is above the law,” Mueller wrote, for a reason.
But Democrats find themselves in an agonizing dilemma. A majority of Americans are against impeaching Trump. We have an election coming up in a year-and-a-half, and even starting impeachment hearings carries potentially disastrous political risks.
On the other hand, maybe not starting impeachment hearings carries even more disastrous risks. Suppose Democrats look weak—who, us?—and Trump is re-elected. What would a second Trump term look like if Democrats let him know that we won’t hold him accountable for clear violations of the Constitution?
And, impeachment hearings might create tremendous political dividends. Did you know that a majority of Americans were against impeaching Nixon when the Watergate hearings began?
But then again, in Watergate, the process was very much the reverse of what it’s been with the Mueller investigation. The special prosecutor, Archibald Cox, wasn’t appointed until after the Senate Watergate hearings had begun. In a very condensed time-frame, Americans learned about the plumbers and the slush-funds used to break into Daniel Ellsberg’s psychiatrist’s office and bomb the Brookings Institution. In the hearings we heard about the enemies list, and John Dean told us that he had discussed the cover-up with Nixon 35 times, telling him that “there is a cancer growing on the Presidency and that if the cancer was not removed the President himself would be killed by it.” And then Alexander Butterfield testified that it was all on tape!!!
Hearings are important in politics because they are gripping television. They reveal facts and character and build a narrative through dramatic, unforgettable moments. That’s what the Watergate hearings did—and what BEHIND CLOSED DOORS investigations by Mueller and the Senate and House Intelligence committees did not. Whether they’re Impeachment hearings or your regular garden-variety hearings, Democrats can still use them to make Americans understand just what is at stake here.
Entire article at:
https://alfranken.com/read/the-importance-of-hearings
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I really hope Dem leadership is listening to you, Al. 
