Rahm Emanuel is throwing cold water on the idea of Democrats launching another impeachment effort against Trump if they take back the House.
The former Obama chief of staff says impeachment would "go nowhere" and urges Democrats to focus on a comprehensive ethics package instead. When even Rahm Emanuel — a Democratic brawler's brawler — is telling his own party to stand down, it tells you how hollow the impeachment drumbeat has become.
Meanwhile, House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries has declined to say whether he would support impeachment proceedings, while previously suggesting it would not be a top priority. That's the tell: the man who would have to run the impeachment won't commit to it.
Democrats remember how the first two impeachments ended — acquittal, and a Trump who came back stronger. Emanuel is doing the cold political math out loud: another impeachment without the votes is theater, and voters in the midterms are voting on prices, crime, and the border — not on giving Democrats a third bite at an apple the country already watched them fumble twice.