Like many of you I have gone back and forth about the wisdom of impeachment of our President.

The Mueller Report shows that Trump is guilty of obstruction of justice on at least 5 occasions and of soliciting and accepting help from a foreign adversary in the 2016 election without reporting his campaign’s numerous contacts with Russian operatives to the FBI. If that were not enough, his ongoing violation of the emolument clause of the US Constitution is cause for impeachment. This in addition to his racism, xenophobia, misogyny, cruelty to political asylum seekers and their children, pathological lying,  malignant narcissism, and personal attacks on distinguished Americans ought to be enough to send Trump packing from the White House.

Nothing would be more emotionally satisfying for me than to watch as Trump is driven from office before his term is done. However, nothing is more risky than putting the country through an impeachment process if our goal is to elect a Democrat to the White House in 2020, keep the US House of Representatives in Nancy Pelosi’s hands, and elect a Democratic majority in the Senate.

Maureen Dowd, as smart, seasoned, and wise a Washington columnist for the NY Times as there is, puts the issue exactly right in her column “Spare Me the Purity Racket” (NY Times op-ed – Sunday, July 28, 2019).

I suggest that all moderates and progressives take what Ms. Dowd says to heart.

I confess that the day after Mueller appeared before Congress, I wrote to my Congressman Adam Schiff and said that it’s time for Congress to initiate impeachment proceedings. Maureen Dowd changed my mind.

Adam – please forget what I wrote you!

See Dowd’s piece – https://www.nytimes.com/2019/07/27/opinion/sunday/maureen-dowd-trump-impeachment.html