If Not Impeachment, What?
Let's get some clarity from Democratic leaders...
I have an idea for Shri Thanedar.
If that name doesn’t ring a bell, it’s because Democratic leaders really don’t want him to become famous. Thanedar is a junior House Democrat from Michigan representing part of the city of Detroit, and its suburbs. Last week, he pissed off basically everyone in Democratic Party officialdom for having the temerity to insist Donald Trump has committed impeachable offenses, and that Congress should fulfill its obligation to check him or remove him from office.
Depending on their affect and faction, House Democrats either browbeat Thanedar, or pleaded with him last week to suspend his efforts to force a vote on his articles of impeachment.
With backing from former House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, Rep. Jerry Nadler (D-NY) reportedly called Thanedar’s efforts “idiotic” and “horrible,” while the current leadership warned him that they’d whip all other Democrats to vote against his articles of impeachment if he pressed ahead with his plan.
In the face of all this pushback, Thanedar blinked. “After talking with many colleagues, I have decided not to force a vote on impeachment today,” Thanedar told Politico. “Instead, I will add to my articles of impeachment and continue to rally the support of both Democrats and Republicans to defend the Constitution with me.”
I confess, I also didn’t know much about Thanedar before this impeachment crusade. I don’t know if his colleagues have good reason to criticize him (anonymously, of course) to the press. Maybe they do. Maybe he’s the wrong guy for his district and deserves to be bounced. I take no position on any of that.
But I do know that when Thanedar says Trump should be impeached because he’s, "committed clear, impeachable crimes,” he’s 100 percent correct. His articles of impeachment are not a stretch—I might have drawn them up a little differently, but it is impossible to dispute that Trump has committed impeachable offenses unless you’re a liar or a coward. Thanedar may not be savvy, or a born leader, but he’s a rare Democrat willing to say this obviously true thing, rather than run it through the party’s conflict-avoidance machinery, which turns strong messages into mush.
What Thanedar’s revealed already is that the party isn’t actually retooling to fight Donald Trump. They’re retooling to generate just enough resistance theater to get angry voters off their backs. He may try in earnest to “rally the support of…Democrats,” but they will not be rallied. Their beef with Thanedar is not that he didn’t persuade them, it’s that they don’t want the word impeachment uttered within earshot of a reporter. If, on this track, Democrats win back the House in 2026, they will not undertake real, concerted accountability efforts. They will, as one anonymous Democrat suggested to Axios, eschew any course of action unless there’s a clear “path to victory." That’s a recipe for letting Trump and his administration veto vigorous oversight.
So here’s the idea: