Democrats and the Trump impeachment trap

Former President George W. Bush was in terrible political shape in the spring of 2006. The Iraq War was going disastrously and voters were tired of the president, whose job approval rating in the RealClearPolitics average of polls was around 35 percent. (Bush's disapproval rating was around 60 percent.) The upcoming November '06 midterms were shaping up as a debacle for Republicans, who seemed likely to lose control of both houses of Congress.

Things were so bad that a part of the Democratic base looked toward the midterms openly hoping to impeach Bush on the charge that he lied the country into war. One leader of that movement was Rep. John Conyers of Michigan, who stood to become chairman of the House Judiciary Committee if Democrats won. Conyers' committee would originate articles of impeachment.

The problem, for Democrats, was voters. Now matter how much they wanted to make changes on Capitol Hill, and no matter how much they disapproved of Bush, they didn't want to impeach the president. Democratic candidates were stuck between their anti-Bush base and the larger electorate.

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