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They all laughed. But it appears the often-maligned Speaker of the House, Nancy Pelosi (and I count myself among the maligners), was on to something when she consistently brushed aside calls for impeachment and instead talked about Trump “self-impeaching.”

Back in May, Pelosi said,  “The point is that every single day, whether it’s obstruction, obstruction, obstruction — obstruction of having people come to the table with facts, ignoring subpoenas. … Every single day, the president is making a case — he’s becoming self-impeachable, in terms of some of the things that he is doing.” She added, “So, he’s doing our work for us in a certain respect.”

Pelosi knew time was on her side. If she gave Trump enough rope, the self-destructive man-child would eventually hang himself.

And so it has come to pass that with Trump’s attempted strong-arming of Ukrainian president Volodymyr Zelensky to “uncover” dirt on Joe Biden and his son, Hunter, Donald Trump has in effect impeached himself.

If Pelosi had initiated impeachment proceedings right after Robert Mueller issued his report, a divided country, and Democratic Party, may have remained divided. This was essentially the case after AG William Barr tainted the jury pool of public opinion by falsely summarizing the contents of Mueller’s report.

Yes there was great pressure on Pelosi, especially from the Party’s progressive wing, but the veteran leader knew the timing wasn’t right. She knew it would take time to get the American people to understand the Mueller report was not a “complete and total exoneration” of Donald Trump. As it has turned out, even after Mueller’s damning testimony before the House and his 448-page report, a large segment of Americans still believes Trump beat the rap.

But with the current Ukraine scandal, the facts are so simple; the corruption so pure. Trump used the power of his office to get a foreign country to help bolster his re-election prospects (sound familiar?) by withholding money already earmarked by Congress for that country’s defense. He not only has publically admitted as much but the “transcript” of his telephone conversation with Zelensky confirms the attempted extortion.

The fact is that Trump felt so emboldened by Mueller’s flop of a performance in front of the House Judiciary Committee that the following day is when he talked with Zelensky about digging up (creating?) dirt on the Bidens. Talk about hutzpah!

Pelosi was shrewd enough to know that the narcissistic Trump, after the Mueller dud, would be even more secure in his invincibility that he would eventually do something so utterly stupid, so brazenly corrupt, that it would be easy for the American public to grasp …  and would unite House Democrats behind formal impeachment.

Madam Speaker, pardon me for ever doubting you.

P.S., as of this writing, 218 House Democrats have come out in favor of the impeachment process … just enough votes to sustain articles of impeachment.

Photo | washingtonpost.com