Playing The Cards

Mueller was never going to be your savior.  He's a risk-averse Republican.

But Adam Schiff and a few others did manage to get into the record some clear, definitive statements.  Check this out.  Additionally, Jon Chait noted that Schiff and others teased out that the Russians had dirt on Trump, which is effectively blackmail material.  Mueller was adamant that Russia played a role in influencing the election and is continuing to try and undermine our elections.

There is apparently some movement towards impeachment.  It's not that Mueller really said anything that wasn't already in his report.  There was certainly no great TV moment. 

I've always felt that the proper time to open an impeachment proceeding would be this fall.  It should last for several months or more (God knows there's enough material).  It should be wide ranging, including collusion with the Russians, obstruction of justice, corruption, emoluments, tax evasion, human rights violations on the southern border, Trump being non compos mentis...I'm sure I'm leaving stuff out.

It should last until February, at which point, it should be turned over to the Senate.  Make Republicans defend Trump from a litany of charges.  For months.

We know that the GOP Senate won't remove him from office.  Impeachment was never going to be about removing Trump.  It is a political act designed to force the Republicans to own every last bit of his illegal actions.  It should be designed to cost Cory Gardner, Susan Collins and Joni Ernst their Senate seats.  It should be designed to drop Trump under 33% approval ratings.  It should be designed to have the biggest impact close to the election, so that the American people will be sick of him and just want him to go away.

It never made sense to rush into this process because we hate Trump.