House Democrats furious as congressman launches 'waste of time' impeachment proceedings against Trump

[OKIsItJustMe]

Source: The Independent

House Democrats furious as congressman launches ‘waste of time’ impeachment proceedings against Trump
Michigan Rep. Shri Thanedar’s resolution attacked as ‘waste of f***ing time’ by his own side but congressman insists it is ‘about doing the right thing’

Joe Sommerlad
Wednesday 14 May 2025 12:43 BST

If a Michigan Democrat has his way, President Donald Trump could face the first impeachment vote of his second term.

Rep. Shri Thanedar’s resolution brings seven new articles of impeachment against the commander-in-chief, alleging everything from abuse of power to bribery, corruption, and “tyranny,” which the House must vote on before Thursday under its own rules.

Trump made history during his first term by becoming the first president in American history to be impeached twice by the House of Representatives, once over his quid pro quo approach to Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky in 2018 and once for his part in instigating the Capitol riot, although in both cases he was acquitted in the Senate.

Thanedar, 70, first announced his intention on April 29, saying: “When Trump ignores the Constitution, Congress, and the courts, he is not ‘fighting for America.’ He is tearing it down and endangering our democracy.”

…

Read more: https://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/americas/us-politics/trump-impeachment-vote-house-shir-thanedar-b2750651.html

[Blues Heron]

1. almost thought it was the onion

[1WorldHope]

2. Who is saying it's a waste of time?

We have to do something!

[Abnredleg]

4. Impeachments didn't hurt Trump in 2024

And won’t hurt him now so it is accurate to describe this as a waste of time. We need to be concentrating on 2026.

[reACTIONary]

7. How does voting on impeachment....

.... work against 2026?

Is it possible that it might help 2026?

[Abnredleg]

12. It's a question of political bandwidth

The GOP has given us all sorts of issues to run on that appeal to Independents - Independents view impeachment as politics as usual and that’s not what they are looking for.

[reACTIONary]

16. I don't think the independents will pay much attention....

.... but it will give a motivational boost to others. It's performative, but low cost performative.

[LudwigPastorius]

17. These charges will not receive a vote on the House floor.

They won't make it out of the Judiciary Committee.

So, even as a 'get them on the record' political protest, it is doomed.

[FBaggins]

37. It won't get TO committee, but there will be a floor vote unless he drops it

You're correct as it regards all the other "show" resolutions of impeachment that have been filed (like the several that MTG did for president Biden)... but you're missing a step in this case.

The previous efforts have gone through the normal process of placing them in the "hopper" which automatically sends them to a committee. But in this case he's using "Question of the Privileges of the House" - which requires a floor vote to send it to committee in the first place.

This explains the response. It's worse than a waste of time to force the other Democrats to go on the record here.

[LudwigPastorius]

65. Thanks.

I, incorrectly, assumed he went the 'normal' route with the articles.

[Bluetus]

18. Precisely. It isn't as if House Dems are advancing important legislation

Last edited Wed May 14, 2025, 11:05 PM - Edit history (1)

Why not put the articles to a vote? Why are we so eager to make life easy for the Republicans?

What is a F-ing waste of time is Dem leadership that doesn't understand that, as an opposition party completely out of power, we need to use guerilla tactics every day.

Of course this will not result in impeachment. But why not make Republicans vote on it, saying they are all OK with Trump's massive corruption and criminality?

[LymphocyteLover]

21. Yes, this is my view too

[FoxNewsSucks]

25. Couldn't agree more.

I have no use for establishment types who seem more interested in mollifying republicons than working for the good of this country.

[LudwigPastorius]

30. The only vote these articles will get is from the House Judiciary Committee, which...

will kill them in the cradle along a party line vote.

It is 100% guaranteed that they will not see the light of day on the House floor.

[Bluetus]

46. So what?

What are Congressional Dems working on legislatively that is so important?

Throwing a little sand in the gears is a good thing. If the entire party took a more principled stance, maybe we wouldn't have lost half our base over the past 25 years. People haven't abandoned the Dem Party because we aren't centerist enough. They have left because they don't believe we actually stand for anything enough to be willing to fight for it.

The Party insiders are determined to lay low and let Trump damage himself. Maybe that will be enough to win something in the mid-terms. Historically speaking, that often happens. But when the appeal is "Vote for me because I'm not him", this does not build any excitement or lasting loyalty.

And regarding that "Trump damaging himself" thing, I note that his approval ratings are hanging in the same range they have always been, and that got him elected twice.

[LudwigPastorius]

66. "What are Congressional Dems working on legislatively that is so important?"

https://www.congress.gov/bill-texts-received-today

Today alone there have been bills introduced by House Democrats addressing the shortage of school nurses, protecting access to health care for Hawaiians, helping small tech businesses receive funding, banning commercial 'conversion therapy', allowing VA employees to collectively bargain, and a couple of resolutions recognizing the human rights of Palestinians and condemning Trump for violating the emoluments clause.

This is typical, as there are thousands of new bills and resolutions during every Congress.

[Bluetus]

67. Right. And NONE of them will make it into law

So you are arguing THOSE messaging bills are more important than the messaging bill about Trump's impeachable offenses?

You can certainly make that argument, but please spare us the hysteria about this one Congressman doing something awful, solely on the basis that it won't every be adopted. NONE of it will be adopted.

If you want to argue that the Dems should focus on a smaller number of very focused messages, I'd certainly agree with that. But in your own words, they are doing the opposite. Everybody and his dog is pitching different bills that are not part of ANY cohesive strategy. I don't see how having an impeachment bill in that mix is any better or worse than the rest.

Take the test. Tell me the three things that Democrats want every American to understand, and what they are doing to get those three points out there. I don't think you can do that. I surely cannot do that. They are all over the freaking map,

[William Seger]

11. The ONLY way to win in 2026 is to get some control over "the narrative"

... so we can explain to voters why the MAGA party needs to be burned to the ground. If that's the objective, which do you think would be more effective: (1) Impeachment hearings where the "crimes and misdemeanors" being committed are thoroughly described, and have MAGAs vote to ignore them; (2) whatever it is that Democrats are doing now; or (3) what?

[Abnredleg]

14. We need to focus on Independents

as they become increasingly disillusioned with the GOP. They’ll view impeachment as politics as usual, and that’s not going to help us.

[William Seger]

15. I should HOPE that one way to disillusion independents on a MAGA Congress is...

... to get that MAGA Congress to vote in favor of fascism and a king instead of a law-abiding president!

[Abnredleg]

20. We always go into impeachment with high hopes

but are always disappointed because it always appears to less engaged people as inside the beltway politics as usual. People are looking for a positive vision, and impeachment doesn’t get us there.

[OldBaldy1701E]

41. People are looking for action. Actions that get results.

Hoping for a 'positive vision' is not gong to 'get us there' either.

Also, they are not 'less engaged'. They are protecting their own, so that they don't end up in the 'losing' category. Because, for some, being in the office is more important than working in the office.

In my opinion, that desire to not 'get dirty' is why we are where we are right now.

[Abnredleg]

45. Impeachment gets us nowhere

Yes, you are correct that we need action. But it needs to be action that swing voters see as directly benefiting them, and and they have always viewed impeachment as political games. When the majority of voters view both parties skeptically then overtly politically acts such as impeachment don't motivate them since they don't see how it will improve their lives. Pete is showing us the way - talking about things that matter to to people not heavily engaged in politics.

We don't have the votes, and there is no evidence that impeachment will move the needle anymore than in the past. "Getting dirty" will only please the activists, while turning off the independents, and will allow the GOP to dismiss the arguments as Trump Derangement Syndrome.

[OldBaldy1701E]

56. Well, in my opinion, it is time to stop with the cult of personality and start with some action.

Impeachment may not be ideal for what is needed, but at least it 'plays well to the masses', to continue the pointless desire to make everything as Hollywood as possible.

(And, this is from a career performer... )

We need something... someone... to become a lightning rod. Yes, "Pete is showing us the way - talking about things that matter to to people not heavily engaged in politics." But, as often stated here on the DU, it is pretty much past time for talking.

Time for some direct action.

Either that, or we need to stop with the grandstanding and start with the organizing... not cells where people exchange witty snark about the other side and revel in their righteous outrage in what quickly becomes an echo chamber, but grassroots actions such as organizing a response when people decide not to send any federal agency any money for any reason. They can turn off the power (maybe) but if we are ready, their efforts will fall flat.

They can't live without us. We can, most certainly, live without them.

They are arresting people on the street. If we are prepared, they should find that they are not as positive as to who is being 'disloyal' as they think they are. They should also find that their efforts are being hampered and they can either arrest hundreds of thousands or they can back off. Organize the liberal, progressive hackers into a force akin to Anonymous. They should be constantly attacking our digital infrastructure to paralyze everything. But, they are not going to like it. Thus, the preparedness organizing. They will want to force us to do their bidding and they will use this capitalistically-run society (because they own all the capital that matters) to punish those who will not bend their knee. Our preparedness is how we hold out and turn that punishment back on them, thus making them understand who is in charge. You know...

We. The. People.

Not the best suggestions, because they rely on enough people to cause real hurt on the economy by snubbing it (and we all know damned well that enough won't do it), but I am open to discuss any other ideas that will accomplish the objective of not only removing the rethugs from existence, but removing the cause of how they came to, and held onto, power for as along as they have. Any other objective is to place yet another tiny Band-Aid on a dysfunctional society that has already lost both arms and legs. Such actions will just allow all this to happen again.

Getting to that point where we are honest about how all this happened and how to repair it for good will require some new organizing as we decide just how to remove the influence of greed and malice from our governmental charter, as well as making sure that such emotions can never influence our governmental processes (thus creating inequity and societal regression), and thru that our society, ever again. But we need to face it.

It is time to get our hands dirty.

[reACTIONary]

55. Noone has "high hopes" for impeachment....

.... this is a messaging gambit. I don't see anything wrong with messaging.

[Bluetus]

19. There will not be an impeachment -- obviously -- so you needn't worry about that

It is an opportunity to give the media something to report besides Trump's latest verbal salad.

Americans want FIGHTERS. They despise patsies , and that's how the entire Dem party is perceived these days. This one act of rebellion will not change everything. But we can win by death of 1000 cuts.

[AKwannabe]

33. Sure

Keep going down THAT road…

Cool

[AKwannabe]

32. Lie down

Doesn’t hurt so much, right?


…

[travelingthrulife]

48. It is their JOB to impeach this monster. Impeach every week with escalating charges.

MAKE the GOP own this over and over again until they finally break.

[synni]

5. Impeachment is not that something

If two impeachments didn't get rid of him, adding a third to his collection won't do any good.

[reACTIONary]

8. This won't add another impeachment to his collection...

... because it won't get a majority. And it certainly won't get rid of him.

But will it do any harm?

[Paladin]

3. Glad to see this happening.

It probably won't work, but it's a start. And there will be plenty of additional impeachable offences by trump in the future---it's not like he's avoiding scofflaw behavior.

Hey, it beats the hell out of "strongly worded letters."

[onenote]

6. The two impeachments in his first time didn't beat the hell out of anything.

[reACTIONary]

9. Does it do any harm? What's the downside?

[onenote]

43. Giving him an easy win -- i consider that harmful

[William Seger]

13. Did you forget that he lost his 2020 re-election bid?

There were a lot of reasons for that loss, so impeachment is not "the reason," but it's hard to imagine that two impeachments helped.

[onenote]

44. And yet he won four years later.

[Polybius]

62. There was only one impeachment before his election loss of 2020, not two

The second came after he left office, for his participation in January 6th.

[William Seger]

10. Congress ALSO took an oath to "support and defend the Constitution"!

I won't grant them ANY excuse for not honoring that oath, especially not "it's a waste of time!" King Dunning-Kruger needs to be impeached because he has clearly committed impeachable offenses, and impeachment is really the only tool that the Founding Fathers gave us to defend ourselves from an abusive president. Saying "let's not bother because it won't pass" is treating this like a political game, and exactly like saying "don't bother trying to defend yourself against a much stronger attacker" -- when it's a clear case of doing the right thing because it's the right thing to do! If voters can't respond to that "messaging", we're fucked anyway!

[Karasu]

22. +10000!

[AKwannabe]

34. +another 10000!

Cuz yes

[travelingthrulife]

49. Yes. This is absolutely right.

[BidenRocks]

23. This is another example of

The party leaving me.
I read about David Hogg being blasted by Dems.
I shortly after, received a DNC fundraising text.
I clicked unsubscribe and the reason was David Hogg being railroaded by Dems.
These people are doing their best to get more Republicans elected.
Bashing fellow Dems? They started it.

Now we don't even appease the Dem base with an impeachment.
Maybe Chump is smarter than our old leadership.
He will have court cases 20 years from now.

I still have Act Blue.

[murielm99]

39. David Hogg is not being railroaded by anyone.

The election was not conducted properly.

[BidenRocks]

70. Would it be an issue if this were the RNC?

Hell NO!

[murielm99]

71. WE are not the RNC.

A man and a woman are elected for these positions, not two men.

[BidenRocks]

72. Republican dictator wins

while we argue over rules.
Do you really think the rethugs would argue or just say STFU and move on.
Screw the rules if we want to win!
Go ahead and be polite while we continue to lose the message over bullshit rules.
I'll write an angry letter. Is that better?

[murielm99]

74. Screw the rules.

Just like trump.

[BurnDoubt]

24. Might as well. I know it risks Republicans' high opinion of Democrats. Independents...

might like to see us "take a shot" instead of whining in the corner that no one likes us anymore. Get it up, or go home.

[WSHazel]

26. Everything, Everywhere, all at Once

Attack them everywhere, all the time.

I have no problem with this.

[ImNotGod]

27. A strongly worded letter is always the best way to go nt

[AKwannabe]

35. Hehe

[electricmonk]

73. I was going to say something like that

Thought I'd check to see if anyone else beat me to it. Those strongly worded letters have sure worked out great so far.

[JBTaurus83]

28. I see nothing wrong

With the congressman bringing this up. In a normal world, the pig would be impeached and in prison. I don’t see how this hurts us for 2026, this is the type of fight and push back that people want. Some of these dems in congress are so past their expiration date and useless.

[ybbor]

29. This guy is an attention grabbing person

He ran for governor here, and really had nothing to offer. He’s all hat, no cattle

[AKwannabe]

36. Whatevs

Explain

[James48]

31. It's always right to do the right thing.

Even if you have to get into some good trouble to do it.

[everyonematters]

38. They should wait until after the midterms when they have the majority in the house.

That's when they will be able to control the hearings and make a good case to the voters. If it is done repeatedly, they will be skeptical about it.

[travelingthrulife]

50. Why on earth do you assume an election would give us the House???

Especially when 'Musk knows those voting tabulators' so well.

[kelly1mm]

52. Why on earth do we assume there is going to be an election in 2026? I was told right here on DU that

if President Trump won in 2024 there would be no more elections .......

[travelingthrulife]

54. We can't depend on that. With gerrymandering and Elon mucking around we

have no real idea of what will happen in any future elections. The GOP seems to feel they do not need to hold on to their voters any longer.
Impeachment is making a statement of criminal action which they are obligated to do as Congressional members.

[everyonematters]

57. There is no doubt that Trump has exceeded his authorities and committed abuses, but I think it is very unlikely

that there won't be an election in 26, or that Democrats won't take control of the House. That seems to be thinking with the Democrats in the House at the moment. He doesn't seem to be getting a lot of support.

[LPBBEAR]

40. Every Democratic member...

in Congress should be initiating their own individual articles of impeachment against Trump. Its their duty. After all Trump is a criminal. If all 213 Democratic members are all initiating articles of impeachment against Trump the only time wasted will be by the other 220 Republican members fighting the numerous Trump impeachment efforts.

Claiming impeachment efforts will "waste time" and divert energy away from other positive Democratic initiatives is a joke. The crackpot Republicans will block everything good for the average citizen in any case.

Democratic Congressional members pretending that everything is business as usual while the house burns down around is the actual waste of time. Attempts to dethrone a criminal wannabe King is a worthy use of their time and their Constitutional duty.

Do the damn job we sent you to Congress to do!

[CapnSteve]

42. Not a waste of time - Democrats need to fight on all fronts, follow the people's lead...

...we are in the streets everyday, fighting against impossible odds. Object, resist, shine a light on Republican incompetence, criminality, and corruption every day. That is what we voted you in for.

[Oopsie Daisy]

47. Indeed it is a waste of time. It will go nowhere. Better to focus our efforts where they will make a difference.

And not spend so much time on showboating and grandstanding.

[travelingthrulife]

51. It is their job to impeach him. So calling out crimes is showboating.

Keep that powder dry, huh?

[Oopsie Daisy]

53. He won't be impeached. It will never get to a vote. This is just grandstanding.

If we had a majority and Jeffries was the speaker... then I'd encourage it. But for now... it's a total waste of time.

>> Keep that powder dry, huh?
Absolutely! Why waste it on showboating and stage pyrotechnics? 🥳🎉🤡🎆🎇

[reACTIONary]

58. So what is wrong with grandstanding? Showboating and pyrotechnics is what...

.... populism is all about, and populism has become more of a winning strategy.

[Oopsie Daisy]

59. It's preaching to the choir and a waste of time.

The voters we want to motivate aren't paying attention to these inside-theatrics. We can use our time and limited resources in much more productive ways. --- I understand that this is "meaningful" and "fist-pumping" entertainment for the party faithful and those who are in-touch and in-tune. In the end, it's just an exercise in vanity and that's a luxury that we cannot afford.

[reACTIONary]

61. No, this is way low cost, we can well afford it....

.... and there are a lot of folks who will get the message that "we aren't going to take it".

Ultimately, the only power congress has over a presidential usurper is impeachment, and letting everyone know, well in advance, that it is on the table, is a good idea.

[Oopsie Daisy]

63. We (the informed and engaged Democrats) are the only ones paying attention.

This is just performative vanities and a waste of time. It's a distraction from doing things that would have more of an impact in the real world... rather than entertaining the loyal electorate who (as I said before) enjoy the "fist pumping" and "fuck yeah" aspect of it. But in the end, it accomplishes very little, if anything... compared to what an equal effort (in time and money) would achieve elsewhere. I'm mature enough and intelligent enough that I don't need such gimmicks to stay engaged or motivated. Anyone who DOES need those types of meaningless theatrics will glance our way (maybe) but when they see it's going nowhere and that NO impeachment happens as a result... it will, very likely, have the effect that makes them believe that the Democrats are ineffective. It will backfire and not have the desired result. Impechment will not happen, and widespread admiration of Democrats will not ensue as a result. Also, it will NOT (as you claim) send a message of "we're not going to take it".

[reACTIONary]

68. RE: I'm mature enough and intelligent enough ...

... that I don't need such gimmicks to stay engaged or motivated.

I'm sure you are. I like to think I am also. That's not everybody, however. "You do your thing, I'll do my thing, and if, by chance, we meet, that's groovy".

[Torchlight]

60. Keeps the pressure on and at no real expense.

I see it as a win/win, regardless of probable outcome.

[Canada Kid]

64. Someone is doing something

Keep the fur flying!! Michigan Rep. Shri Thanedar’s motions to impeach help try to jam up Trump and his cronies. More of the same must come from others as well. Impeach the crap out of him. Tie him up in legal red tape. Hold his feet to the fire for all the highly questionable decisions and moves he and the Republicans have evoked. Total lack of ethics and morals are against the constitution, twisting laws to suit his criminal agenda, openly lying about almost every subject to accommodate his "truth". More Democrats must also follow in Thanedar's footsteps.

[lees1975]

69. Yes! This!

I cannot understant why every Democrat in the house would not be 100% behind this. Draw attention to the idiocy and corruption. Keep hammering. Stop bringing the knife to the gun fight.

If we'd had this kind of movement in 2021, when we had control of both Houses, we would not be here now.