Un-impeachable?

It seems unlikely that anyone voted for Donald Trump believing he was a paragon of virtue. Americans knew in 2016 about the divorces, the law suits and the tape in which he boasted about grabbing women. Any other politician running for office would have been consumed by just one of these scandals, but Mr Trump escaped censure because the public accepted he wasn’t running as a politician. He was the anti-politics candidate: a businessman who said, in effect, “I’m no angel, but I will get things done”.

As such, it is hard to believe that the latest courtroom revelations regarding his former staff will change the minds of Mr Trump’s supporters. Paul Manafort’s conviction for fraud does not implicate Mr Trump, but Michael Cohen’s confession of campaign finance violations does. This means the President is now embroiled in a sex and hush money scandal that is certainly embarrassing but not, as liberals hoped, proof that he fixed the election with Vladimir Putin. Nor is the path to impeachment much clearer: the House must be for it and two thirds of senators need to vote guilty to force Mr Trump from office.

That does give the midterm election, which will decide the balance of Congress, new meaning. And yet the Democrats have been reluctant to make impeachment the core issue of their campaign. Why? Because they fear many Americans will see it as a distraction from America’s problems and its successes; indeed, while some of Mr Trump’s policies are wrongheaded, others are delivering for his base. His supporters elected him, in part, to cut taxes, grow the economy, create jobs and protect the borders. Until the Left understands this, they probably can’t beat him in 2020.