How we got to here
It's official.
The Democratic-led House of Representatives just voted to formalize the impeachment inquiry into "president" Donald Trump. Two hundred thirty two members voted "aye".
Just a few short months ago, not even a majority of Democrats were in favor of impeachment. This fact led the Twitter warriors to go, as the poet said, apeshit.
House Speaker Nancy Pelosi was the regular recipient of hurled invective. Some of the more apoplexed even went so far as to say she was colluding with Donald Trump to keep him in office.
Of course, the vase majority of voters also weren't in favor of impeachment. But somehow Pelosi was to wave her magic wand and make them in favor of it.
Politics are both luck and planning. Pelosi unleashed her committee chairs to hold Trump accountable by holding hearings. It was slow going at first. But with every hearing, with every secret revealed, support for impeachment grew both in her caucus and in the public at large.
Then there's the luck.
As Pelosi said, Trump would "self-impeach". And boy howdy did he.
Kids in cages should get you kicked out of office. But it didn't. However, extortion of a vulnerable country to rig the 2020 election is something everyone can understand. And when the Trump-Giuliani racket came to light, the luck part of politics kicked into high gear. Democrat after Democrat came out in favor of impeachment. And now in many polls, a majority of Americans favor impeachment and removal of the illegitimate West Wing occupant.
No, how we got to here wasn't pretty. It was messy and too slow for some. But Democrats have been in power for not even a year, and impeachment proceedings are already underway.
Don't fool yourselves that impeachment will mean removal. Although one can hope, I'm not sanguine that the Senate will vote to convict Trump. But by his deranged tweets, Trump fears impeachment by itself. He will be what he always detests: a loser. And he knows that the majority of Americans want him gone. His fragile ego will crumble at the humiliation. And, assuming he survives in the Senate, he'll go into 2020 as an impeached "president". He'll forever wear the stain. And yes, I do think he'll end up in prison after he's ejected from the White House. Normally, a man in his position wouldn't. But he wasn't even supposed to be in this position, so all the normal rules are out the window.
Strap in, kids. Now the fun begins.