The built-in post-midterm assumption in Washington has been, and continues to be, that Democrats will try to make Donald Trump – already the leader in the clubhouse – the first president to be thrice impeached. That’s probably a good bet, though as I noted in this week’s District Club, I think they’ll go after a cabinet secretary or two as well. Could be DOGE, could be ICE, could be measles – imagine the scene of RFK Jr. surrounded by a sea of fiery-eyed MAHA moms in the committee room. The party of law, order, and science can find a way to impeach anyone, and will, if only for the sideshow that plays to their base.
Yet since none of these picks are going to get shoved out the door, what is it really about? The real aim of presidential impeachment for the Democrats at this point involves no realistic plan for removal from office, and following an election cycle they claim is all about jobs and affordability, a Quixotic impeachment quest would be a marked break from why voters gave the Speaker’s gavel to Hakeem Jeffries (or a W.A.R. equivalent Speaker To Be Named Later). The abortive Russiagate/Ukraine phone call impeachment wasn’t a great lead-up to the 2020 election for Democrats, and it’s unlikely to be any better headed into 2028. So what’s really going on?
Washington just tipped its hand this week, and the call came from inside the house – or, well, the Senate. Freshman Republican John Curtis of Utah, who has slid happily into an even squishier-than-Mitt Romney role early on, sent a letter to Judiciary Chair Chuck Grassley demanding that Donald Trump Jr. be subpoenaed by the committee in connection with a ProPublica report laying out a financial relationship with a Russian oligarch. Curtis claims he wants to know more about it, writing in part:
[Q]uestions have arisen about the relationships of President Trump’s eldest son, Donald Trump Jr., with foreign business figures and the acceptance of significant gifts. These include a lavish wedding afterparty, on a private island, provided by Russian oligarch Umar Kremlev, who reportedly traveled to China as part of a delegation accompanying Vladimir Putin shortly before giving the gift.
These concerns are compounded by Donald Trump Jr.’s active promotion of family-backed cryptocurrency ventures, his continued pursuit of international real estate deals involving direct meetings with foreign heads of state, and his reported investments in defense contracting. This pattern extends to his significant financial and advisory ties to prediction-market platforms that depend on favorable federal regulatory decisions being considered by the Commodity Futures Trading Commission.
Presumably to offset the allegation that he’s just targeting the president’s son, Curtis also called for subpoenaing Hunter Biden for his own history of wheeling and dealing (now that’s good television, by committee standards). None of this is likely to happen, but it’s important that Curtis is indicating his willingness to go along with Democrat efforts to target the Trump family so early – he’s not waiting for the votes to be counted in November. And that indicates where things are headed.
What voters should expect to see after this election isn’t movement on affordability, on housing, on jobs. Maybe they’ll get some desperate flailing at health care costs, because those scare Republicans too. What they should expect to see is Democrats building their case for another go-round of their favorite tactic: sustained, over-the-top, and well-funded lawfare, targeted at Trump associates and the Trump family, where the process is the punishment. The job of Hill Democrats will be to shake loose everything they can through witness depositions and wildly broad subpoenas, any way they can and with the help of the still very real deep state.
Everyone’s going to be on the target list – from the crypto bros to the foreign investment funds to the various slimy (but in a pretty normal swampy kind of way) hangers-on. But the biggest targets will be on Trump’s family and anyone who’s become a business partner since his 2024 victory – including the tech industry, which has moved in his direction.
Democrats aren’t going to be about changing the country, not after this midterm. They’ll be all about getting every scalp they can. And if they can’t get the president himself, they’ll settle for ruining the lives and businesses of the people he loves, and who love and work with him. It’s not about the future. It’s about revenge. If you vote Democrat in November, that’s what you’re voting for – whether you know it or not.