The reality: Trump is better positioned than Nixon was prior to the televised senate hearings...
There's those who believe the hearings alone will shift the narrative and put the Democrats on solid footing when it comes to going after Trump with impeachment. I think it's important we step back and survey the current climate and landscape - but also not get caught up with what happened to Richard Nixon because, really, the situations aren't all that comparable.
It is true that Nixon saw a plummet in his approval ratings between the start of his second term (1/73) and that summer when the hearings into Watergate began in the Senate and were televised nationally - but we need to understand that much of the damage Nixon saw in the early months of '73 was already happening even before the hearings.
For starters, Watergate was playing out during the 1972 election, as Liddy, Hunt and the Watergate burglars are indicted by a federal grand jury just two months before the election. This didn't seem to penetrate Nixon's support, however, as he won reelection in a landslide over George McGovern.
Days before his second inauguration, however, Liddy and James W. McCord Jr. are convicted after the trial over their role in Watergate. Nixon is inaugurated a second time, and his approval jumps to 67% - this is important.
A month after the inauguration, hearings begin into appointing L. Patrick Gray as permanent Director of the FBI. However, during this hearings, Gray admits to the Senate that John Dean probably lied to FBI Investigators and that he was asked by Dean to keep him updated on the Watergate investigation. This is where things start to fall apart for Nixon.
In March, McCord writes a letter to a judge stating that the Watergate burglary was not a CIA operation and, in fact, involved other government officials. This begins the interest of the investigation into the White House's role.
In early April, John Dean begins cooperating with federal Watergate prosecutors.
Nixon's approval at this point has dropped ten-points, and now sits at 58%. Still, it's strong.
On 4/27, after evidence comes to light that Gray destroyed Watergate files from E. Howard Hunt's safe, Gray resigns. This also ties the investigation further to the White House. Three days later, White House counsel John Dean is fired. H. R. Haldeman, Nixon's Chief of Staff, is forced to resign.
On 5/7, ten days before the televised Watergate hearings begin, Nixon's approval is now at 45%. In just three months, Nixon's approval has gone from 67% to 45% - a decrease of 22 points. It's by far one of the quickest, and largest approval drops in modern American history.
I focus on this timeline for two reasons:
1) Nixon was bleeding support before the televised hearings. His support didn't drop because of those hearings. I'm sure they played a role - no doubt - but Nixon was on a collision course with bad approval throughout most, if not all, of 1973 - exactly what we saw in the wake of the resignations and the fact the Watergate scandal tied directly back to the White House. In comparison, Trump's approval has largely remained steady for the TWO YEARS. I've mentioned this before, so, I won't rehash his numbers, but his approval today isn't much different than his approval a year ago and the year before that. What this tells me is that, despite the indictments, the opening of the initial Mueller Report, all the hubbub over the release of the report, and what it implies, Trump has been immune to two things - tanking polls and rising polls. He just stays there, lingering around 40-44% approval.
2) There was a lot that drove down Nixon's numbers (and fast) before an actual senate hearing took place. That was a direct result of resignations, flipping and lying. But what we have is a situation where Nixon's own staff was caught in lies and forced to either resign or, as was the case with Dean, they were fired. So far, there's nothing to indicate that level of 'oh shit' with Trump and his administration. Beyond all that, we've seen more complacency and acceptance of Trump's crimes from within his administration than existed with Nixon. Compare the actions of Elliot Richardson, who was the Attorney General at the time, and William Barr. Does anyone think Barr as near the integrity that Richardson had when Nixon ordered him to fire Archibald Cox?
My concern with impeachment is that the players in all this do not fear the rule of law. We've already seen the idea of Trump officials openly defying subpoenas. We have a Senate that won't convict. Trump will stonewall and stonewall until it gets to the point that people move on to something entirely different due to losing complete interest in the hearings. The fact that, after two years, and multiple indictments and negative stories about corrupt campaign officials, Trump's approval has still barely budged, also tells me Americans just may not care - or enough of 'em to make the political fight worth it.
Earlier this past week, CBS News released a poll that showed a solid majority of Americans wanted congress to drop the investigation into Russia:
58% of Americans have heard enough about the Mueller Report - only 37% want to hear more:
What does this mean? I think Democrats run the risk of burning the American people out on the investigation and then it becomes less effective and less a problem for Trump - especially if the end-game is to force impeachment.
As it is now, I think they should have hearings - and Mueller should testify. But if his testifying doesn't result in a devastating revelation, or further support for the idea the administration obstructed, then the political clout behind impeachment just might not be there and, yes, the act risks emboldening Trump.
Do I think the Democrats should impeach Trump? I guess in the most basic legal sense, yes, if Trump obstructed, he probably should be impeached - just as Bill Clinton was. But as someone who wants Trump gone at all costs? I believe impeachment might not be the best avenue solely because, beyond some other bombshell revelation, I don't think obstruction is strong enough to justify the politics of it - just as it was with Bill Clinton in 1998.
Either way ... it's not an easy issue. I think both sides of this argument have legitimate concerns. I get why Nancy Pelosi is playing it safe right now because once you go down the path of impeachment, there's no coming back. It will either devastate Trump, shining a light into his lies and corruption, or it will be a political spectacle the American people tune out and does more damage than good. It's a risk and I can see why some Democrats are just okay with defaulting to the 2020 election because they can play up Trump's corruption and obstruction, but not potentially giving him what he wants - vindication by senate.
I know a lot will disagree with my take, and I accept that. There are no easy answers here when we know the end-game is almost certainly going to end with the Senate acquitting Trump.
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Trump also has the support of a willing populace, a clergy who is convinced that he was appointed by god, and a 24/7 news network that constantly kisses his ass. Nixon didn't.
This is Nixon 2.0 that we are dealing with here. The GOP learned from their mistakes this time around. 
NEW YORK (Reuters) - The number of Americans who said President Donald Trump should be impeached rose 5 percentage points to 45 percent since mid-April, while more than half said multiple congressional probes of Trump interfered with important government business, according to a Reuters/Ipsos poll released on Thursday.
I'm sure, in that four days, nearly 20% of Americans changed their mind on impeachment.
