Impeachment Is One Giant Diversion

If you can’t beat him, destroy him.

That’s the Democrats' game plan when it comes to the impeachment of President Donald Trump.

I spoke with the president shortly after House Speaker Nancy Pelosi’s nonsensical impeachment announcement.

To me, it was so clear this was nothing more than a political act, not motivated by constitutional or legal matters.

How do we know this?

Because Pelosi pulled the trigger on an impeachment inquiry before seeing the transcript of the president’s call with Ukrainian President Zelenskiy, before seeing the whistleblower’s complaint and without interviewing any witnesses, including the whistleblower.

Pelosi didn’t need to know the facts.

She knew what we all know: The 2020 election was just over a year away, and the president was increasingly a shoo-in for re-election.

Political historian Allan Lichtman has predicted the winner of every presidential election since 1984. Pro-Democrat, Professor Lichtman also predicted Trump’s 2016 election victory.

Earlier this year in May, Lichtman appeared on CNN and warned Democrats that Trump was assured re-election next year.

Only impeachment, possibly, could stop this from happening.

He argued that an incumbent president can be defeated if six “keys” are not favorable for re-election. Trump, he said, only had three, making another term almost a certainty.

Lichtman urged the Democrats to use all they had left: impeachment.

It’s tantamount to a Hail Mary pass, but Pelosi’s move reveals just how desperate the Democrats are.

Barring any major new revelations, the impeachment looks like it will have difficulty passing in the House let alone garnering two-thirds of the Senate for removal.

Here is my state-of-play, not yet 30 days out since the inquiry began:

1. The president’s approval numbers remain strong.

The current Real Clear rolling average is at 43%. It has remained amazingly consistent despite unending negative press reports. The week before Pelosi’s announcement the average was 43%. Nothing has changed.

2. Some polls appear to be hyping impeachment.

Most polls show support for impeachment and removal at less than 50%.

One of the first polls to show 51% support was a Fox News poll, which has been widely criticized for oversampling Democrats.

Invariably, polls that show strong support for impeachment oversample Democrats.

For example, the recent Pew poll showing 54% favoring impeachment, also claimed that 56% of those surveyed were Democrats or Democrat-leaning, with a 14 point advantage over Republicans surveyed.

No reasonable pollster can buy the results of such a poll.

3. President Trump’s “results” remain strong, and undermine the case for impeachment.

Trump’s stewardship of the economy has been impressive. Despite predictions of a recession, the economy is 10 years into an expansion and Trump has helped propel the economy well beyond the average 7 year lifetime for such booms.

Yale economist and Nobel prize-winner Robert Shiller says a recession is likely years away and credits one person: Donald Trump.

“I think that [strong spending] has to do with the inspiration for many people provided by our motivational speaker president who models luxurious living,” Shiller told CNBC.

4. The Democrat strategy is to bait Trump.

Clearly the Democrats don’t want to be talking about the president’s record on the economy and jobs, especially with the lowest unemployment in modern times.

I view the impeachment as one giant diversion, and they’d love to have the president run down this rabbit hole.

The key for the White House is to ignore the Democrats' smoke and focus on the business of the nation.

The White House would be wise, even as Democrats attack the president, to propose bipartisan bills with the House on such things as infrastructure, health care, student loans, immigration and border security.

The more the American people see that the president, not Congress, is actually working for the people’s business, the more impeachment case weakens and the more Trump rises in popularity.

Almost from the hours after his stunning election in 2016, the far left went into attack mode, launching protests that very night.

Calls for impeachment began at the time of his inauguration.

The president has been hindered by these actions, and his approval ratings, which should have been sky high, have been dented.

The country has no history of impeaching and removing popular presidents.

The key for Trump, as he faces impeachment, is to use the same playbook he’s employed since he started as a rising business, entertainment and political star: just remain popular.

Christopher Ruddy is CEO of Newsmax, one of the country's leading conservative news outlets. Read more Christopher Ruddy Insider articles — Click Here Now.