What Went Down On Day 1 Of The Impeachment Hearings

“Must we simply get over it? … If this is not impeachable conduct, what is?” says Schiff. It goes to the point that Schiff was one of the Democrats — along with Pelosi — who had been weary of impeachment for much of the year. The Ukraine situation basically forced some of the Democrats to move toward impeachment.

Democrats have basically given up on forcing the White House to cooperate with their subpoenas through court battles, which they might win, but would take months to conclude. So as Perry mentioned, they appear to be trying to weaponize Trump’s stonewalling against him by including it in an article of impeachment.

One thing I’m wondering about, as I listen to Schiff lay out what he sees as the stakes of these hearings, is how much regular people will pay attention to these hearings on the news tonight or in the paper tomorrow morning or on Twitter or Facebook whenever they have a spare minute at work. The way that the public perceives the testimony is key. What springs to mind is something my mother talks about — sitting and ironing while she watched the Nixon hearings. It’s a great image in my head, but also speaks to how much the American public was captured during those proceedings.