How impeachment is coming back to haunt Republicans

Republicans didn’t think about this when they voted in lockstep, with one exception, to support Donald Trump amid the most blatant abuse of power in memory.

They didn’t think about it when they decided to bulldoze a Supreme Court nominee through the Senate in the middle of an election.

The backlash won’t come if Democrats seek to expand the high court.

It’s already here.

Republicans’ attempts at an “October surprise” are dying, one by one, with a whimper.

By not caring about norms, they’ve sent a message to the electorate: You don’t need to, either. And guess what? There are more people in the electorate who oppose Trump than support him — a number that seems to be shrinking.

Hey, Republicans: You’ve already told the public you don’t care if a president essentially blackmails a foreign country to help him undermine an American election. Do you really think anything less will somehow matter now? Hunter Biden? Hillary Clinton’s emails? Hey, Republicans, nobody cares. Nobody, anyway, except the people who already watch Fox News and are already all-in on your politics of grievance, outrage, and resentment.

Those people alone won’t win you the presidency, or the Senate for that matter.

If you couldn’t support removing a thoroughly crooked president during “normal” times, why on earth would you think anyone outside your precious “base” cares about your half-baked allegations and conspiracy theories now? When their loved ones are getting sick and dying while the same crooked president dances on stage to “Macho Man”? When people are losing their jobs. When small businesses are closing.

When you care more about jamming a nominee through the Supreme Court than striking a deal on COVID relief, why should anyone who needs that relief give a f*** about Hunter Biden?

The threat of the virus will eventually pass — though it will take a lot longer than it would have if you’d just worn masks and urged others to do so. But instead of learning from your mistakes, you’re pushing the idea of “herd immunity,” which is just another word for waving the white flag and encouraging mass infection by a deadly virus. Maybe you hope it’ll kill more Democrats than Republicans. Maybe you’re just insane. Or just unbelievably stupid. I’m honestly not sure anymore.

It’s going to take a lot longer than it would have if you’d just endorsed masks and social distancing in the first place, and more people will die in the meantime. What do you call them? Collateral damage? But the virus will become less of a threat, eventually: maybe next year, maybe the year after that. And the economy will recover, a few years down the road.

Even when it does, though, will people really care about minor and manufactured scandals when you overlooked the most egregious ones? I doubt it. You’re fond of saying that their opponents don’t understand or care about anyone outside the Beltway. But you’ve fallen into the same trap: you don’t understand or care about anyone outside the Fox-talk radio bubble.

They may be crying “Burisma!” and “Benghazi!” and “Obamagate!” and “Unmasking!” But nobody else is.

You’ve set the bar by turning a blind eye to your guy, the commander-in-chief who thinks people in the military are “losers.” You’ve set the precedent. And people are noticing.

If you’re willing to put up with anything from Trump (and do anything yourselves) to advance your political interests, what makes you think those outside your Fox News bubble won’t put up with much less for the same reason? They won’t care about your red-faced outrage or Trumpian conspiracies as long as they’re seeing their daily lives improve.

When they finally do (improve, that is), they’ll remember who helped them. And who went around shouting “Burisma!” while their savings were disappearing and their loved ones were dying.