Political analyst Bill Schneider said on Monday that the refusal by Democratic leaders to campaign on impeaching President Trump is making it more difficult for Republicans to motivate voters ahead of November’s midterm elections.
“Donald Trump is not on the ballot, remember, so a lot of Trump supporters really aren’t interested in keeping the House and Senate Republican,” Schneider told Hill.TV’s Joe Concha on “What America’s Thinking.”
“The main argument that can be made is that a Democratic House would impeach the president, and therefore he’s trying to get them excited about that,” he continued. “The Democrats are being very cagey. They’re not campaigning on impeachment at this point.”
Democratic leaders have cautioned candidates on campaigning on the issue of impeachment.
House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) said last month that impeachment would not be a priority for Democrats after Trump’s former personal lawyer Michael Cohen pleaded guilty to campaign finance violations that implicated the president.
“Impeachment has to spring from something else,” Pelosi said. “If and when the information emerges about that, we’ll see.”
“It’s not a priority on the agenda going forward unless something else comes forward,” she continued.
However, Republicans, including Trump himself, have tried to use the threat of impeachment to drive voters to the polls.
“We have to keep the House because if we listen to [Rep.] Maxine Waters [D-Calif.], she’s going around saying ‘We will impeach him,’ ” Trump said at a Michigan rally in April.
— Julia Manchester
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