Thread by @paulwaldman1

1. I'm not yet entirely on the impeachment train, but note this about the comparison to Clinton: The real equivalent would be Dems impeaching Trump solely for the Stormy Daniels affair. The public probably would regard that as an overreaction. That's not what this would be.

2. Any comparison to 1998 has to reckon with the fact that the public debated it for a year and decided that having an affair and lying about it didn't merit removal. It wasn't a broad "No president should ever be impeached" conclusion.

3. If you're not old enough you probably can't grasp how much it consumed the nation. Everyone talked about it all the time - at work, at home, everywhere. It was genuine deliberative democracy in action. A consensus was reached: Clinton was scummy, but he shouldn't be removed.

4. The public turned against the Republicans not because impeachment was "too partisan," but because they were a bunch of puritanical scolds trying to remove the president over a blow job. People may not have a sophisticated grasp of policy, but they understood that.

5. Also, Clinton was hugely popular at the time, largely because the economy was booming. His approval ratings topped 70 percent in some polls.

I'm not saying I know how a debate over Trump's impeachment would turn out. But assuming it'll be just like 1998 is probably wrong.