Heeding call for ‘clarity and conviction’

Shortly after the 2016 election, Jim Himes did something radical, promoting a move unprecedented in American history.

“We’re five weeks from inauguration and the presidentelect is completely unhinged,” he said, slightly translated from Twitterese. “The Electoral College must do what it was designed for.”

In any context, a sitting member of Congress urging the Electoral College to select someone other than the election’s winner is a stunning move. Since this is the scandal a minute Trump era, it barely registered.

Elaborating on Facebook, Himes discussed “the threat of a completely unqualified individual” ascending to the presidency, and said we needed to do “what’s right, even if it’s hard — encouraging the Electoral College to say no to Donald Trump.”

This being social media, the first comment on his thoughtful Facebook post says, in full, “Eat it Himes!”

But he was right then, and he’s right again now. Himes last month became the first member of the Connecticut delegation to come out in favor of starting an impeachment inquiry against the president, and he did it after a long, public process weighing the benefits and potential pitfalls of an investigation. He ultimately decided, rightly, that nothing was more important than doing everything possible to hold the president accountable.

There’s a huge danger for people who believe the president is a menace but do not think impeachment is the answer. They say the best course is to defeat him at the polls, which raises the question: What if you don’t? If Trump wins in 2020, what possible method of keeping him in check would remain?

There’s an unfortunate history here of Democrats pretending not to see a major crisis of the other party’s making because it makes their lives more complicated. In late 2002, Democrats wanted to talk about anything other than the pending war in Iraq, preferring, with an election looming, to focus on topics like health care and other socalled kitchen table issues, which ought to sound familiar. The vote on whether to wage war in Iraq turned out to be the most important of its kind in a generation, and maybe the biggest reason Hillary Clinton never became president.

The party didn’t reap any electoral rewards from that stance, and now seems intent on making the same mistake again, ignoring a crisis in favor of issues its members feel more comfortable addressing.

The point isn’t that health care and other Democratic priorities aren’t important. They are, but there’s also little chance of anything getting past a Republicanled Senate, making nearly every bill the House passes little more than theater.

There’s an argument that an impeachment inquiry would have the same problem, with no hope of a Republican Senate convicting and removing the president from office. But that misses the point. If Democrats think there’s an unfolding catastrophe, they need to take whatever action is available to stop it. Instead, their plan is to wait around a year and hopeWisconsin doesn’t shock the world again.

There are other open investigations of the president, but by declining to take the most serious step, members give the impression that such a step isn’t warranted. Everything we know about the president shows the opposite is true.

Nearly every Democrat is on record as saying they recognize the seriousness of the Trump crisis. Jim Himes, about as far from a liberal bombthrower as exists in the Democratic caucus, showed them publicly how to take the next step. Meanwhile, the rest of the state House delegation, in seats that range from safe to impregnable, is still waiting.

What, then, would it take to get Jahana Hayes on board? “I want to be really cautious and thoughtful, but it’s a twoyear seat, so if I want to get things done, I have to start now,” she told Hearst’s Dan Freedman last week. This would seem a good opportunity.

What about Rosa DeLauro, in maybe the safest House seat in America? John Larson and Joe Courtney will likely never lose another election in their lives, and this may be the most important issue of their careers.

They should each follow the lead of their Fourth District colleague. “There are moments for careful calculation. For weighing political expediency and conflicting interests,” Himes said in announcing his decision on impeachment. “And there are moments for clarity and conviction. This is that moment.”