Barring any major "smoking guns" from here on out (or anything else severely changing the landscape of these impeachment proceedings), Nancy Pelosi will have quite a decision on her hands. She knows that any impeachment, to have any kind of historical validity, must have (as Jerry Nadler repeated said) broad, bipartisan support. Here are the speaker's choices:
1. Go for (in football terms) the "short, high percentage pass" and propose a resolution of censure.
In this instance, it is widely believed that she would get her broad, bipartisan support. The president would receive a loud and clear message from Congress, without the ability to take numerous victory laps while claiming "complete vindication." The country would be spared (in Pelosi's words) a "traumatic impact." The news coverage would focus on the election season and not have to provide wall-to-wall coverage of a Senate trial, which could prove politically destructive to the Democrats. Likewise, the senators currently running for president will be spared the obligation of returning to Washington having to (effectively) suspend their respective campaigns for an indefinite length of time, while they will have to "sit there quietly" and watch all that goes on in a trial, which could last weeks or even months. The many House members in "Trump districts" would likely suffer far lesser consequences at the ballot box with such a vote. And in the end, history will ultimately judge this unfortunate chapter in our history as fair to all sides.
