Agree w Hugo and wildcat. Letting this drone on without any action could very well depress the Ds and the undecideds making it to the polls. He is going to scream No Collusion, No Obstruction for the next year and a half. Is Pelosi committed to getting in front of a camera every day for the next ~500 days to get down in the mud with Cheeto?
I'm sure the WH is calculating the negative impact of televised hearings, but you have to wonder if there are other indiscretions that might be revealed by further testimony?
Mueller did say that some evidence was destroyed, so he couldn't list everything that happened.
Oh okay. I misunderstood your original post:
"Yeah. There's kind of a low grade consensus that if they let him get away with whatever he wants, at some point, a competent Democratic administration is going to take full advantage of that."
I tend to agree with BiffTannen that the Rs would change whatever rules were in the way of them taking on a D president.
At this point, I think a lot of Rs are corrupt crooks who are compromised in one way or another. I'm sure there are some Ds that fall into that category too. Maybe so many Congress members are corrupt that DC is not salvageable?
There might not much truth to it, but the Ds' inaction could be seen as a tacit recognition that their side cheats too and that they don't want to make things too tough for the next D president (like Bates said).
^ if the rules haven't fully changed yet, they are quickly getting there. AOC's comments are more in line with future elections/voters than Pelosi's. I don't think younger voters are going to put up with the lawlessness that this WH has embraced.
The Ds in the House are going to have to fight to get their message out. They're going to have to bring every one of the people you mentioned in front of a committee for extended questioning.
As vexing as bureaucracy can be, it also comes with a shit ton of institutional knowledge that can be used to serve average Americans. It's just not possible to have a 1.00 batting average at hiring people who are as messed up as their boss in the WH. Have we crossed the Rubicon, and from here on out, we're only going to have shitty pols in DC? Has the voting public become so imbecilic that they'll continue to support tyrants like we currently have?
I'm sure most of these jobs are very challenging if you go into them with the goal of creating a culture of excellence. Most of them require a lot of hard work if you're going to do your job well. But with the bureaucracy that's in place (in a good way), you have the tools to do your job. The Trump WH thumbed its nose at most of the transition materials and resources that different agencies had prepared.