“I am concerned that if we do not impeach this
president, then he will get reelected,” Democratic Representative Al Green of
Texas said this spring, explaining his support for impeaching President Trump,
long before the phone call with the Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky that
is at the heart of the current saga. Given all the accomplishments of the White
House to date, it is easy to see why so many Democrats share that sentiment
with Green.
Start with the state of the economy. Ronald
Reagan, in his 1980 debate with Jimmy Carter, famously suggested people ask
themselves before casting their votes, “Are you better off than you were four
years ago? Is it easier for you to go buy things in the stores than it was four
years ago? Is there more or less unemployment in the country than there was
four years ago?” He understood what political scientists and campaign
operatives have known for decades. When it comes to deciding factors at the
polls, perceived economic health stands, for many voters, at the top of the
list.
Since Trump took office, more than 7 million new
jobs have been created. Unemployment has fallen from 4.8 percent to 3.5
percent, with African American and Hispanic unemployment at historic lows. In
sharp contrast to the Obama era, the labor force has been growing rather than
shrinking. More Americans are now working than ever before. Even with the
largest workforce in our history, there are more job openings looking for
employees to fill them than prospective employees looking for jobs.
Given that no president running for reelection in
the postwar era has been defeated with unemployment at less than 7.4 percent,
the record of Trump on the jobs front alone sets him as a formidable candidate
for reelection. However, job creation and labor market growth are not the only
measures of economic success. Gross domestic product growth has risen from the
2 percent average of the Obama years to 2.5 percent, with two quarters of the
Trump years significantly clocking in above 3 percent.
Moreover, Trump signed into law the Tax Cut and
Jobs Act two years ago. Though Democrats derided it as a sop to the wealthy, a
study showed that an average family of four earning the median annual income of
$73,000 received a cut in federal income taxes of more than $2,000. To the
coastal elites who populate the modern Democratic Party, that may not be much
more than their annual coffee bill, but to average families in the heartland,
that is almost a 60 percent drop in their annual federal income tax bills.
Since Trump was elected, the Dow Jones Industrial
Average has soared by more than 50 percent to more than 28,000 points. The
S&P 500 has climbed by more than 50 percent to more than 3,200 points. The
Nasdaq composite has risen by more than 70 percent to more than 8,800 points.
If you think those gains go only to elites, think again, as about 100 million
people have 401(k)s and 42 million households have individual retirement
accounts. They know who is putting more money in their wallets and who is
making it easier to save for retirement and pay for college for their kids.
So the answer to the question posed by Reagan is
simple and obvious. It is also most troubling to Democrats, who know they have
nothing and no one to offer Americans to beat Trump. It is easy to see what is
really going on here. Democrats have weaponized the impeachment process and are
using it as another political tool against an opponent they cannot beat.
That is not why the Founders established
impeachment. Indeed, they feared that impeachment could be used by one party in
control of the House against a president of the other party. But the good news
is that Americans see through this. The polls are swinging against Democrats,
and this charade of an impeachment is simply benefiting the reelection campaign
of Trump. The charade will then move to the Senate, where it will end with a
failure to convict and an exoneration for Trump as it should.
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