From Jonathan Bernstein:
Republicans spent more than two years defending the president from charges of collusion. This is how he thanks them?
I agree that House Speaker Nancy Pelosi has played her hand well so far, for instance, and that Trump hasn’t. But I think there are three more important reasons why we are where we are now – with impeachment very likely, and Republicans less enthusiastic in their defense of the president than they have been.
One reason is what several people have pointed out: The Ukraine story indicates that Trump’s malfeasance is ongoing and forward-looking. That’s very different than a backward-facing scandal, like the special counsel’s probe into Russian interference in the 2016 election, where the key actions took place before Trump was in office. It also suggests that, as Matthew Green reminds us, the facts may actually matter.
Another reason is simply that impeachment, politically, is never about a single scandal. It’s always cumulative.