Thread by @julianzelizer

Ever since the Mueller report came out, more political leaders have said that @realDonaldTrump committed impeachable offenses. The administration’s response to the report has made things worse./1

Top Democrats like @TeamPelosi and @RepJerryNadler have publicly spoken about the president's impeachable behavior./2
cnn.com/2019/05/16/pol…

Prominent Republican pundits like @gtconway3d have said this as well./3
washingtonpost.com/opinions/georg…

Now a Republican legislator has added to the mix./4

https://twitter.com/justinamash/status/1129831615952236546

@justinamash has drawn praise from respected scholars such as @tribelaw. /5

https://twitter.com/tribelaw/status/1129859356957270017

As @jonfavs tweeted. /6
“There is now bipartisan agreement in the House of Representatives that the President of the United States has engaged in impeachable conduct.”

https://twitter.com/jonfavs/status/1129838796927897600

Yet during this same period of time, the leaders of both political parties have made it pretty clear that they are not planning to trigger the impeachment process in the near future./7

Never very subtle, @senatemajldr argued “case closed.”/8
cnn.com/2019/05/07/pol…

Democrats, Pelosi and others, have made it clear that they would rather avoid the impeachment process before the 2020 election./9
washingtonpost.com/politics/house…

So, it looks like the constant wait for the “smoking gun” was misplaced. Many believe that the Mueller report provided just that. But in our current political era, inaction is the preferred course of action on almost everything (other than cutting taxes). /10

The combination of fierce partisan Republican loyalty, the political calculations and fears of Democrats, and a conservative media complex propping up the president’s narrative continue to protect the White House regardless of what the president does. /11

It seems like the history that @KevinMKruse and I traced in #FaultLines has created a political world very different from the one we inhabited in 1974, the year that Congress pressured President Nixon into resigning for having engaged in impeachable behavior. /12

Last Sunday on @ReliableSources, my colleague @crampell said the “frog has been boiled” to describe our situation, a reference to the story of a frog who sits in water that gradually boils until it is too late for the frog to jump out./13 @brianstelter cnn.com/videos/busines…

Currently, most political leaders who believe that impeachment is seriously warranted are betting that the 2020 election is a superior mechanism for ensuring accountability than the other constitutional process. /14

@realDonaldTrump is hoping that a strong economy, an incumbency advantage, Democratic division, and partisan loyalty will be enough to ensure a second term./15

Let's see how the history plays out./end

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