If the corruption, as well as the associated death of Gadaffi (various spellings), are not addressed, the U.S. will have severe problems with international negotiations in the future. “Burning” some ” “corrupt” “has been” pols is a small price to pay to obtain some bit of a reputation for reliability back.

Now they face losing again. Plus face a news environment of great economic prosperity, which Trump is correctly taking (too much?) credit for. So they have to impeach him to stop him from getting re-elected. They spin the truth to get there.

Notice how they characterize his asking for a favor to investigate a corrupt Burisma as “interfering with the 2020 election, for his own private gain”. Investigating corruption is not illegal “election interference”, even if the corruption is involved in the election. But that’s the story of the Dems.

The Dems, and the Deep State, including many Reps, is full of Hunter Biden type corruption, extortion, and kick-backs. See the Clinton Bribery Foundation’s work in Haiti, and the Haitian activist that wanted to testify against the Clintons but was killed (he didn’t kill himself ). Corrupt Deep Staters supporting other corrupt regimes all over the world. Not just, tho perhaps especially, in Ukraine.

https://www.theatlantic.com/ideas/archive/2019/12/impeachment-warranted-also-bad-idea/603616/

Backpedaling furiously, but they “had to do something!”

Rep. Tulsi Gabbard, D-Hawaii, who voted present on both articles of impeachment, said she worked for the best interests of the country whether in the military or in Congress.

“After doing my due diligence in reviewing the 658-page impeachment report, I came to the conclusion that I could not in good conscience vote either yes or no,” Gabbard said in a statement. “I am standing in the center and have decided to vote Present. I could not in good conscience vote against impeachment because I believe President Trump is guilty of wrongdoing. I also could not in good conscience vote for impeachment because removal of a sitting President must not be the culmination of a partisan process, fueled by tribal animosities that have so gravely divided our country.”

House Majority Leader Steny Hoyer, D-Md., said Trump was given every opportunity to prove his innocence.

“Democrats did not choose this impeachment. We did not wish for it,” he said.

“Oh, come on,” several Republicans responded.

I’m not sure what you mean by “Republicans and their allies outmaneuvered at every turn.” The simple truth is that with a majority, the Democrats can impeach Trump for anything they want if they can get a majority of Democrats to vote for it. And that’s what happened fairly successfully.

The Democrats controlled the entire process. So the Republicans had no power to maneuver in that sense.

However, the Republicans have done quite well in the court of public opinion. So in the one arena in which they had some power, they seem to have wielded it.

Waidmann

Horowitz testified in a Senate hearing today, a hearing scheduled a week ago. Who knew? Because the debate on impeachment was accidentally scheduled at the same time.