Here's something I wouldn't have expected: socialist Representative Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (the unofficial leader of the Democrat party) says impeaching President Trump is more important than getting a Democrat elected in 2020 - which would mean ultra conservative VP Mike Pence would be our President.
Polling data has overwhelmingly indicated most Americans don't watch impeachment. The same polling data also indicates that impeachment proceedings will be horrible for the Democrat primary candidates. We shouldn't be shocked by this news; if the Democrats impeach Trump, it's as if they're telling centrists and moderates that they were wrong in 2020 and their mistake needs to be corrected.
AOC is being very clear: she's not concerned about polling data that says impeachment could hurt the Dems in 2020. She'd rather risk having her party lose the next Presidential election than not impeach Trump. Doing this would send Mike Pence straight to the Oval Office.
AOC argued on Wednesday night that Congress should pursue the impeachment of President Trump despite its unpopularity among voters and "put our country first" before their jobs.
"I personally do not believe in fulfilling my obligations to my job based on polling data," Ocasio-Cortez said on CNN. "I think we need to do our job and we've been elected and sent here by the people of the United States of America to fulfill all of our obligations under the Constitution of the United States."
The freshman congresswoman stressed that the polling on impeachment took place before what she described as a "really shattering allegation" that Trump attempted to leverage foreign aid to Ukraine in order to renew an investigation into former Vice President and 2020 frontrunner Joe Biden and his son Hunter Biden. She also noted that the new revelations about Trump's contacts with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky has "united almost the entire Democratic caucus."
"I think the ground has shifted. I don't believe in making decisions based on polling," Ocasio-Cortez continued. "I believe in our ability to organize the public, to educate the public, to talk to the public about why not just we as members of Congress much impeach the president but why all people in the United States of America must recognize and understand that need to put our country first before our consideration of reelection. And that goes for members of Congress all the way up to the president of the United States."
So there you have it - she'd rather get rid of Trump (which, again, would send Pence to the Oval Office) than have the Dems win in 2020. She also thinks impeaching Trump is more important than giving the voters what they want. This feels like an attack on democracy itself.