Thread by @KagroX

Me, 3/10/06: "The Republican Radicals impeached Clinton, even against overwhelming public opinion, not because they believed he was guilty of real real 'high crimes,' but to make impeachment a dirty word."

Trump, 5/30/19: "To me, it's a dirty word — the word impeach. It's a dirty, filthy, disgusting word.”

Me, 3/10/06: "That served the dual purposes of erasing part of the stain of Watergate (that is, they hoped we'd thereafter remember all impeachment proceedings are nothing more than political circuses) and of making their next GOP chief executive "impeachment-proof."

Me, 3/10/06: "How so? By being able to persuade Democrats that it was impeachment itself that was unpopular, and not the impeachment of a particular (and popular) president over "crimes" unrelated to the office.

Sound crazy? Crazier than the fact that it's working?"

"Let's think back to the last time we were asked whether we should "keep our powder dry" in order to maintain the viability of some key Congressional process: the judicial filibuster and the nuclear option."

"Wasn't it the complaint that although we had ‘preserved' the filibuster, it had become useless because we had essentially agreed never to use it?"

"Is that what we're now being asked to do with impeachment? And we're going to agree to that, because we're afraid Republicans won't agree the circumstances are[ ] 'extraordinary’ enough?"

"How many people here believe looking the other way at crime reduces recidivism? Anyone? Nobody? Nobody believes that accountability and punishment will just make dangerous criminals mad, so we should stop doing it?"