Given his extensive track record of extremism, is it any wonder that this man would again position himself on the cutting edge of left-wing nuttery -- especially given the prevailing mood of his party's irate base? The 'resist!' crowd is dominant and ascendant within Democratic politics these days, and Keith Ellison is happily serving up piping hot takes to the hungry grassroots. From last night's wild DNC chairmanship debate:
CNN: Congressman Ellison, three of your colleagues in the House, Maxine Waters, Jamie Raskin, and Joaquin Castro, have people publicly raised the specter of impeaching President Trump. Do you stand with them or with House Leader Nancy Pelosi who believes impeachment talk is premature?ELLISON: I think that Donald Trump has already done a number of things which legitimately raise the question of impeachment. I mean on day one — (APPLAUSE) — on day one, he was in violation of the emollients clause. This is a part of the Constitution that says as President, you can’t get payments from a foreign power. The day people checked into his hotel and started paying him, who were foreign dignitaries, he was in violation of that law. There’s already a lawsuit filed against him. And right now, it’s about only Donald Trump. It is about the integrity of the presidency.
Bear in mind that Ellison isn't some fringe wacko within the context of this contest. He's got the backing of major party figures from Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer, to Harry Reid, to Elizabeth Warren, to Bernie Sanders -- whose Twitter feed remains a raging cartoon of Socialist ranting. His primary opponent is former Obama Labor Secretary Tom Perez, another dyed-in-the-wool lefty, and the race is reportedly very close:
Perez, who was encouraged by Obama administration officials to run for the post, has emerged as the apparent front-runner, with independent Democratic strategists tracking him at about 205 votes. But it's not yet clear whether Perez or Ellison — or one of six other long-shot candidates — is positioned to capture the required majority of the 447-member national party committee. The strategists spoke on condition of anonymity because many DNC members they track do not want the vote count discussed publicly. Ellison, backed by Vermont Sen. Bernie Sanders and his supporters, has the support of about 153 members, the strategists said. Ellison spokesman Brett Morrow blasted the count as "totally inaccurate" and said his camp remains "incredibly confident."
As for the "I-word," Ed Morrissey writes at HotAir that (absent some major revelation of solidly impeachable high crimes and misdemeanors), this is a dead-end fever dream: "Democrats lost their fourth straight House election, so they control no committees, have no influence on floor votes, and have no hope of getting the process started at all, let alone winning an impeachment vote. All this does is escalate expectations on the Left while leaving voters in the middle with the distinct — and accurate — perception that Democrats have lost their minds." ABC News' Rick Klein suggests that the return of impeachment talk -- which was rarely uttered by Republicans during President Obama's term, yet was cited by lefties as evidence of the GOP's radicalism and racism -- could end up being a political boon to Trump and his party:
Ellison is not the first to go there; the first such calls started even before the inauguration. Cue the outrage on the right, along with the pressure from the left to go at least as far as the next possible party chair is going. But as an organizing principle, demanding impeachment hardly counts as real direction for the Democratic Party. It’s a sideshow for the opposition party – and a gift for Republicans who can still use fresh reasons to get behind a polarizing president.
I'll leave you with this incredible flashback to House Democrats' fake impeachment hearings in the basement of the Capitol during the second Bush administration. It took them years to reach that level of derangement back then. Now a top contender for their party's chairmanship is endorsing a serious impeachment pursuit one month into Trump's presidency. Of course, Ellison is a wild-eyed impeachment enthusiast, and not a credible person. Perfect for the current flavor of the Democratic Party, in other words. Between his serious, extensive baggage and radical impulses, the RNC should be running a shadow campaign to boost Ellison.