Why Democrats Aren’t Talking Impeachment

Beto O’Rourke, the congressman from Texas who’s seeking to oust Senator Ted Cruz, recently broke with fellow Democrats by daring to mention The Issue That Shall Not Be Uttered. Referencing President Donald Trump’s behavior at the Helsinki summit, O’Rourke said: “Standing on stage in another country with the leader of another country who wants to and has sought to undermine this country, and to side with him over the United States—if I were asked to vote on this [in Congress], I would vote to impeach the president.”

There it was, the dreaded I word that Democratic leaders have virtually banned from the 2018 campaign conversation. O’Rourke, in his remarks to , offered a reasonable explanation for his stance—“Impeachment, much like an indictment, shows that there is enough there for the case Trump’s Helsinki performance “disappointing, dangerous, and detrimental to our national security,” but, like his brethren, he won’t broach the I word.