Impeachment push is hardly a slam dunk

No matter how much you crane on Ukraine, it’s impossible to see whether impeachment will produce fruit. But as Democrats should have learned from the red-herring probe of Russians, rushin’ to a conclusion can be a bear. If not careful, their nuclear option could mushroom out of control and make their 2020 prospects more radioactive than Chernobyl.

No time for jokes? Wrong. Based on what we know, the Ukrainian-Bidenquid-pro-quo-impeachment fiasco is a complete joke, the latest charade of a Democratic Party desperately seeking relevance.

The issue is a call between President Trump and newly elected Ukrainian leader Volodymyr Zelensky. Mr. Trump asked his counterpart to investigate possible corruption related to Burisma Holdings (Ukraine’s largest natural gas company), and Hunter Biden (son of current Democratic co-frontrunner, Joe Biden), who sat on Burisma’s board of directors, earning a reported $50,000 per month while his father was vice president.

Critics claim that Mr. Trump employed “quid-pro-quo,” threatening to withhold military aid unless his request was heeded. They also allege that Mr. Trump was seeking foreign assistance for his re-election effort.

House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, who for almost three years had squashed Democrats’ impeachment howls, finally caved.

Speaker Pelosi called for the impeachment inquiry before, yes before, obtaining the transcript, knowing what was discussed, or interviewing witnesses. How such blatant political bias – forming a conclusion before knowing the facts – has escaped larger scrutiny is incomprehensible.

At first glance, the “optics” don’t look good for the president. If one only reads headlines, then yes, President Trump looks to have done something approaching political, though not legal, malfeasance. But delving into the transcript, which is not a word-for-word account, the picture is much murkier. Upon examination, it becomes quite a stretch to make a quidpro-quo connection, and the request to investigate possible corruption, while not ideally timed, can be reasonably construed as legitimate, especially if the president felt that the prior Ukrainian Administration wasn’t trustworthy.

Most people don’t care. Truth is, when most Americans hear “Mr. Zelensky,” they think of Dan Aykroyd’s character in “Tommy Boy” – not the Ukrainian President.

The Democrats will draw it out as long as possible, delving into minute details, demanding side investigations, and branching off into everything else Mr. Trump has done “wrong.” But it will backfire as fewer and fewer tune in, giving the president a distinct advantage.

If it comes down to credibility – whom do you believe more – and the edge goes to Mr. Trump, despite his many shortcomings. America loves an underdog, and there is a strong undercurrent that President Trump is being treated unfairly. People think he deserves the chance to do his job free from harassment, and this latest derailment attempt will be met with scorn.

The Left’s core problem is that it remains shell-shocked that “boorish” and “deplorable” Donald Trump won the race that was “guaranteed” to be a slam-dunk, packaged-and-delivered victory for Democrats. Since there was no way Trump could win, celebrations began the day he secured the GOP nomination.

But a funny thing happened. America held an election, not a coronation. And the people – not the Washington Establishment – chose their next leader. Utterly humiliated, the Left’s only way forward was to discredit Donald Trump. And they continue to try, day after day, year after year. Enter the last-ditch Ukrainian issue and impeachment, what looks like the Democrats’ last chance at wounding the president’s political viability before 2020.

Regarding “dirt” on Joe Biden, just because something may be politically advantageous doesn’t mean it isn’t true.

This is not to excuse the president if he had nefarious intentions, but there’s no way to prove that he did. Barring a true bombshell, the impeachment proceedings may prove decisive in preventing Democrats from retaking the White House.

If so, Donald Trump will have the last laugh by personifying Ray Zalinski’s best line from Tommy Boy: “Send (the Dems) a bottle of bubbly with a bucket of ice and a card. Have it say: ‘Tough break, get drunk on me. Use the bucket to ice down your marbles, Yours, T.’”