I've come around to the fact that impeachment is something Democrats HAVE to do. Because by now the illegality is just too clear and profound to ignore, even though we're powerless to stop it.

But the impeachment process is not set up in such a way that it can remove a president supported by the base of a majority of senators. And that base's opinion isn't changing. Anyone who thinks people will come around isn't being honest about human nature or the current political dynamics.

And it will cost us electorally. There have already been anti-impeachment protestors at Democratic town halls, and while plenty of people think Trump broke the law, even the ones who want him removed are still listing impeachment as a low priority. We've set ourselves up for GOP challengers to run against a House that supposedly isn't acting on "the important issues." This is exactly how it went for Republicans in '98, in a history that a lot of progressives insist on revising.

And when Trump is "acquitted," he's gonna milk the everloving fuck out of it. We've already seen this with the Russia investigation. Nobody seriously denies the crimes outlined in the Mueller report. But Trump supporters have turned it into a vindication and Democrats fret over how it was all a sad waste of time.