Their news may be fake, but their glee over impeachment is not! Liberal members of the media were beside themselves with joy at Wednesday’s “solemn” occasion — the House vote on impeachment. Like Democrats, who celebrated the 218th vote like they’d won the Masters, Washington Post reporters clinked glasses in one photo. They were all smiles until Rachael Bade’s “Merry Impeachmas!” tweet started dropping jaws — reminding Americans what “objective journalism” looks like now.

While Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) gave revelers an icy stare on the House floor, Bade’s colleagues in the media gave the Post much more. “What… were you thinking when you tweeted this?” Emmy-winning investigative reporter Bill Melugin fired back. “Some of us still care about ethics and unbiased reporting, and this garbage makes it harder for all of us by reinforcing a stereotype. Come on guys.” The Hill’s Joe Concha was just as angry. “[This] isn’t a horrible look for both news organizations or anything,” he said, nodding at Bade’s second employer, CNN. Well, Mollie Hemmingway half-joked, the Post did work hard for this impeachment over the past few years.

But honestly, Americans didn’t need a happy hour selfie to tell them what they already know: this entire impeachment charade isn’t serious — and neither are its advocates. Think about it: This is the first modern impeachment without a scrap of bipartisan support. Not a single Republican voted in favor of the articles — and worse for Pelosi, multiple Democrats voted against them. So the only thing that is bipartisan, it turns out, is the opposition. Congressman Mike Johnson (R-La.), who literally stepped into the cloakroom to join us on “Washington Watch,” talked about this and the behind-the-scenes frustration on both sides of the aisle. This is, he pointed out, “the first time that there has been a literal single-party impeachment, and… that is precisely what the founders feared. They feared that it would come to this… where the majority party in the House would abuse their power and go after the president because they don’t like his policies or the way he communicates.”

“Look, every previous president in this country has made unpopular decisions, especially infuriated their political opponents and the other party. But impeachments for good reason and by specific design are exceedingly rare. So we’ve been a country for 243 years. There [are] only two previous presidents, Andrew Johnson in the 1860s and Bill Clinton in 1998 that have been impeached by this House. Richard Nixon resigned in 1974 to avoid this. But in each of those previous impeachments… evidence clearly established that specific criminal acts were committed. [And, based on the votes, both parties agreed.] That is just simply not the case here. And what they’re doing is opening a Pandora’s box that it will be very, very difficult for us to close.”

The bar has been set so low now, he warns, that if you disagree with the next presidents or anything about them, one side will call for impeachment. “This is exactly what the founders wanted us to avoid — [which is] getting to this point where impeachment is weaponized and becomes a common tool. It will destroy a republic.” Mike is absolutely right. This is an attack, pure and simple, on the policies and accomplishments of this administration which undoing what they’ve worked decades to accomplish through the courts and government bureaucracy. If it weren’t, the House would be accusing the president of an actual crime. It hasn’t — something even the Post admits.

His crime, at least to the Left, goes back to the irrational response over what Justice Neil Gorsuch said on Fox: “Merry Christmas.” If you want to know what’s driving this intense liberal animosity toward the administration, those two words sum it all up. This president has unleashed the powers of faith in this country, unlike anything we’ve seen. The Christians in this country, who’ve spent years being mocked and maligned, feel emboldened again. Saying “Merry Christmas” in places like work or school used to mean you’d need a lawyer. If you put a nativity scene in the town square or senior center, you’d be summoned to court. That still happens every once in a while, but by and large, faithful Americans feel understood and protected by this president. After three years of watching Trump beat back the forces of political correctness, people aren’t intimidated anymore. They aren’t frightened by what liberals might do, because this administration hasn’t just stopped the Left — it’s slowly and steadily dismantled the anti-faith policies they stood on.

So when Neil Gorsuch goes on television and wishes people a “Merry Christmas,” the Left isn’t upset about December 25th. They’re upset about every other day of the year that this president is moving faith and the freedom of religion forward. When you get right down to it, liberals don’t have many options. This impeachment is their last-ditch effort to preserve the Left’s secular domination of the culture. And they have everything to lose.

Originally published here.

Tough Sledding for Dems in December Polling

Impeachment has been a flop on a lot of fronts — but especially when it comes to hurting the president politically. Not only has the sham process boosted Donald Trump’s approval ratings, but it’s made people think twice about his 2020 opposition. In polling at Axios, the president is leading every Democratic candidate in head-to-head match-ups — something that seemed downright impossible a few months ago. At this rate, when the curtain drops on November, the only thing Donald Trump will be saying to Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) is “thank you.”

Trump goes up, impeachment goes down — that seems to be the trend in almost every survey house these days. From Gallup to Rasmussen, Axios to Quinnipiac, the battleground states aren’t the only ones sick of the Left. Chris Wilson from WPA Intelligence has seen the patterns up close and joined me on “Washington Watch” Wednesday to explain where he thinks the House has overstepped.

It defies logic, at least on the Democratic side, he said, but “This is the high water in terms of [the president’s] approval. It is. You’re seen his numbers solidify in states where he was weak just a few months ago — [places like] Pennsylvania, Wisconsin. He had started to slip some in Iowa.” Not only has Donald Trump rebounded there, but even in states where had challenges in 2016. “He’s now doing pretty well in Minnesota, New Hampshire.” In the media, where editorial boards stuck out their necks to endorse impeachment (like USA Today), this polling “has really got to be throwing them for a loop.”

In another worrisome sign for Democrats, Axios held focus groups with voters who supported Barack Obama in 2012 and Donald Trump in 2016. “And they found that their support for Donald Trump in 2020 was even stronger than it was in 2016. Look, the number one reason for that is the economy,” Chris insists. “The number two reason is Democrats and the way they’ve handled impeachment.” And in swing districts, he warns, where Trump is popular, these Democrats are really taking a major gamble. “[T]here are 31 seats that Democrats hold that were won by Donald Trump. And I would predict today they’ll lose 15 to 20 of those — at least. It could be more than that.”

So what on earth do they have to gain? The only person Chris could think of (apart from Republicans) is Nancy Pelosi. “She keeps the speakership. And that really is what this is about for her… You mentioned Blue Dog Democrats. There’s none of those left, but there are reasonable Democrats left. And you and I both know some of them… [And when I do media] I’ll be in the green room talking with some of those reasonable Democrats. And they are furious at her because she’s throwing her freshman Democrat class under the bus in order to appease the [Alexandria Ocasio-Cortezes] of the world… Pelosi was scared that if she didn’t move forward with these impeachment charges, that she would be challenged from her Left for the speakership.”

It’s a remarkable risk. To her majority status and at least 30 members of her caucus, Pelosi is basically saying, “I don’t care if you guys lose. I need to make sure I stay in power.” “So this is selfish, self-preservation move for her.” The only smart thing Democrats have done, Chris argues, is hurry this process along. “What she and Rep. Jerry Nadler and Rep. Adam Schiff did is push this through as quickly as possible so that hopefully it’ll be gone from the voters’ minds by the time November 2020 comes around — [which is] in their best interest.”

Obviously, just because Donald Trump leads in these states now doesn’t mean he’ll lead in 2020. A lot can happen before then. “But it certainly has allowed him to rebuild his image and point to his accomplishments. Because as they try to point to a perceived failure he can say, ‘Well, look at these things. I’m doing well.”

Originally published here.

This is a publication of the Family Research Council. Mr. Perkins is president of FRC.