After this crazy week, it's increasingly hard to see how Democrats could back down from making Donald Trump the 3rd president in history to be impeached.
The big picture: Impeachment has been elevated from an activist issue to a dominant issue in the Democratic Party. House Democratic leadership is on board — even if they're still hedging on the process — and so are almost all of the 2020 Democratic presidential candidates.
- Joe Biden is the only candidate whose support for impeachment would be conditional on Trump obstructing Congress.
- Public sentiment is moving in that direction, as new polls show a rise in support for impeachment.
What's next: Watch top Democrats to see if their support for impeachment changes from conditional — "I'll support these efforts if Trump does X" — to absolute.
- That might take longer in the Senate, and it's still doubtful whether Republicans would ever come on board.
- But history is hard to read in the moment: Richard Nixon's story shows how public sentiment can build like a wave.
The bottom line: You'll read about this week in the history books — whether or not Trump is impeached.
Go deeper: How an impeachment inquiry works
