A few words on Nancy Pelosi

"He will self-impeach."

The howls of derision when House Speaker Nancy Pelosi uttered those words in regards to Donald Trump were like a banshee's wailing.

"What's that old woman talking about?"

"Is she scared of Trump?"

"We voted for you to take out Trump, not pass bills which McConnell will kill!!"

And so on.

A segment of the Twitterati went apoplectic because Nancy wouldn't march to their tune, much like they did over Barack Obama not being their Magic Negro.

And I understand the frustration. All the damage Trump was doing to our country had to be stopped.

But you don't turn a lumbering ship on a dime. You don't start a process without building support among the voters. You don't begin to remove a sitting president* without having all your ducks in a row.

And if there's one thing Pelosi knows about, it's politics. She knows how to work the system to get the results she wants. And she knew Donald Trump.

She knew he has no impulse control. She knew that eventually, and sooner rather than later, he would do something so corrupt that it would turn the impeachment calculus. It was just a matter of time. Like a hunter stalking its prey, she just had to wait.

That she had to do this in the full glare of people second-guessing her was as water off her back. She wasn't going to be rushed into a precipitous action which would doom what she wanted to do, which was to rid ourselves of Trump and save the Republic. She knew you get only one shot at this.

Trump provided her with the casus belli. And yes, he had committed many impeachable offenses before l'affaire Ukraine, kids in cages being the most glaring. But that wasn't enough. She needed something that even the most politically illiterate among our voters would understand. Extortion is easy to comprehend. And Trump handed his head to her on a silver platter.

Now all the anklebiters are on Nancy's side. Because of course they are. But if they'd just had the patience she had, they would have seen the plan. Frustration was understandable and unavoidable. But removing a king isn't something done in a slapdash fashion.

So, as Nancy Pelosi mourns the death of her beloved brother, a toast to her: He did self-impeach. Kudos to your perspicacity.