the way since the white house released the summary transcript of that call and the ukraine issue blew up. and particularly those with national security backgrounds, they felt that they really didn t have a choice. they never wanted to talk about this. they understood that coming from trump districts, and there are 31 house democrats who beat republicans and gave the democrats the majority, that allowed the majority to even be in the place where they are right now, of taking up impeachment. they want to talk about prescription drugs, they want to talk about other things, and the frustration and concern among some of them, especially those in really, really big trump districts, like max rose who manu raju has talked to a few times. the concern is that public opinion throughout this process as the house has had hearings and there have been public debates have not solidified behind the notion of impeachment for his constituents, the
today i m asking to proceed with articles of impeachment. next month, the senate will ultimately decide on whether to impeach a president. as filling as this all may have been, it s what comes after the meal that matters most the bill. that s right. there was always going to be a political cost to impeachment. it s just a question of who will end up paying? of course there s the possibility that president trump ends up paying the lion s share. these hearings in which career civil servants and trump appointees shared their serious concerns and the facts of the case that trump abused his office for his own political gain, have undoubtedly damaged the president. republicans were left floundering, and probably for that reason, the white house
democrats losing seats. they all say yes. we won t know if that s really true until november. those, my friends are the stakes. in the short term how will public support for and against impeachment play out? in the medium term who benefits. ? in the long term, how does history remember this moment? as joe klein put it in the washington post this week wrap are racing toward a dead-end of their own. their tribe is dwindling. why they nominated and defend the president so indefensible, why they use russian disinformation to smear ukraine and potential rivals. while the republicans stage a ufc cage match and right now the lawyers are moving. joe klein joins me now. he s the author of primary colors. let me ask you, if democrats end
politics is not even a consideration about this. this is about protect and defend the constitution. politics is not even a consideration in this? i for one don t believe that, and if true, why not? impeachment is political. the consequences are real. take this for instance, a senate trial means that two of the top three polls candidates will be pulled off the campaign trail for that trial, likely in january, just weeks before the first votes in iowa. that s a real consequence. another? the washington post found an average of 86% of democrats support impeachment, while 87% of republicans oppose. an analysis find morse people would give up preferred outcomes on the health care, taxes, if it meant getting what they want on impeachment. think about that. impeachment is now the defining features of today s political
of voting down party lines with no republican support, is that still a convincing win? no. look, impeachment is about the most serious thing can you do nom democracy. yeah. we ve been overdoing it. the republicans overdid it with clinton, the democrats are overdoing it now. i think they have a solid legal case, but impeachment is a political act. this is about something that happened in ukraine, which is a place that most americans probably can t locate on a map. i think that for impeachment to be a plausible political action, it has to be bipartisan. in this case with the republican support for donald trump, they might even support him if he shot somebody on fifth avenue. right. so i think the more prudent course for democrats would be to continue the investigations, you know in my opinion this man