Steve Israel: What is next for Democrats?

[brooklynite]

The Hill

Today the Senate is expected to vote to acquit President Trump in his impeachment trial. The question for Democrats becomes what next? Do they continue driving down the twisting path of investigations and spurned subpoenas? Or should Democrats slam the breaks on their constitutional responsibility, two words Senate Republicans can no longer say with a straight face, to conduct oversight of the administration?

The answer is to keep exposing the misdeeds of Trump, while opening a new front on the kitchen table issue of health care in Congress and on the campaign trail. It seems counterintuitive, but Democrats are in a decent, albeit imperfect, strategic environment. They have thoroughly discredited acquittal. In December, when the House passed two articles of impeachment, a quick Senate acquittal would have helped the president.

After a blatantly partisan and stacked trial without witnesses, however, that acquittal is clouded in doubt. Now voters are more likely to assume that Trump was referring to Senate Republicans when he infamously said, “I could stand in the middle of Fifth Avenue and shoot somebody and I would not lose voters.”

But harping on inappropriate, impeachable, and illegal behavior will not be enough for Democrats. They need to exploit one of the greatest electoral vulnerabilities of Trump, which is health care. In the latest poll from Navigator Research, 56 percent of voters trust Democrats in Congress over Trump when it comes to health care. This is the largest gap so far in this poll. Meanwhile, a Fox News survey shows that 54 percent of voters disapprove of how the president is doing on health care.