Pelosi "negligent at best" -- Charlie Pierce

[Tom Rinaldo]

42. I think they are positioned in their sweet spot now

I'm not convinced that they are pushing for impeachment. I think they are pushing for maximum coverup. I suspect they believe they can play the clock out on Democrats with continuing obstruction and lack of cooperation. I don't think they are defying House Democrats in order to goad us into impeachment, I think they are literally obstructing House Democrats to prevent the public from seeing the full extent of the evidence against Trump for as long as possible. I think that is their electoral calculations, to enter the 2020 election cycle with the full implications of Mueller's investigation never fully aired or litigated, and with it safely seen only in the rear view mirror.

But it is more nefarious than just that in my opinion. Republicans want Democrats to conduct hearings on Trump, but they want those hearings to lack teeth and credible witnesses. They want to run against Democrats conducting witch hunts, they want us to keep threatening to investigate, they want us to fight over subpoenas and Contempt of Congress. They want us to hold "empty chair" inquiries with key witnesses failing to show up. They want Democratic sound and fury, but they do not want the full case against Trump laid out in detail on TV for the American public to absorb. And I am increasingly coming to believe that the only way Democrats can force a full examination of Trump' conduct without being tied up in court for years is through real impeachment hearing with the Constitutional imperatives that go with it.

Republicans want to run against Democrats tilting at windmills and they are, in my opinion, operating on the assumption that they can gum up Democratic oversight hearings sufficiently to make the public tire on the whole matter, and make Democrats in Congress seem out of touch with real concerns without having literally explosive hearings that can hurt the president. Right now, I think, they have us where they want us.