Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi has been playing a balancing act for the past few months. On one hand, she has to stop her caucus from becoming too zealous about impeaching President Trump, fearing the same public backlash the GOP received in 1998 during impeachment proceedings against President Clinton. On the other hand, she needs to keep the specter of impeachment alive so she doesn’t start getting attacked by the radical Democratic base who want the President out immediately.

But lost in the mix is the speculation that Pelosi is fully prepared to impeach the President, just not yet. She wants to bring impeachment and all the mud that will be flung at the President as a result during the heart of general election season.

Evidence of this is all circumstantial but compelling. In a closed-door meeting with committee heads yesterday, she instructed her team to keep up the pressure through investigation after investigation. This would normally not be enough to appease impeachment hawks like Maxine Waters and others, but their clear support for the strategy is an indicator that they’ve been promised vindication at a better time than now. Otherwise, there’s enough support for impeachment among the base for them to continue beating the drum louder and possibly even call for Pelosi’s ouster.

It’s also conspicuous that lower members of the Democratic totem pole haven’t gone after Pelosi, including known antagonists like Representatives Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez and Ilhan Omar.

Pelosi knows her time is short if things don’t go her way quickly. She was able to gather support from opposition within her caucus by promising to only serve as Speaker for two years. But she has no intention of stepping down if Democrats retain control of the House of Representatives through the 2020 election. Instead, she intends to build her credentials by strategically beating the President, not only on the political arena but in the 2020 election itself. No, she’s not running, but if she launches her impeachment hearings in a way that can earn her credit for the Democratic nominee to win, she will have solidified her seat as Speaker for as long as she wants to stay there.

It’s a huge gamble. Depending on how the impeachment proceedings go in the eyes of the public, she could do enough damage to help kick the President out of the Oval Office. On the other hand, she could seal her own fate if the President wins as a result of sympathy he’s able to garner from the political move of a well-timed impeachment proceeding. It has the potential to backfire spectacularly if the public sees it as a dirty trick, one that could even cost the Democrats control of the House.

But in reality she doesn’t have much to lose. If she impeaches now when it won’t affect the election or if she chooses not to impeach at all, there’s a very good chance she’ll be held to her word to step down as Speaker in 2021. If she delivers the White House to the Democrats, she’ll be locked in her Speaker seat indefinitely.

This should infuriate Democrats more than Republicans, especially the growing radical wing of the party. Their goal, as stated by the Justice Democrats, is to take over the party from within. But Pelosi’s moves are not only meant to harm Republicans but also increase the power over the Democratic Party held by the establishment.

We may be witnessing the swampiest tactics every put on display from Capitol Hill as Speaker Pelosi plots the takedown of a sitting President. Some say she’s impotent, but clearly she’s a viper with plenty of bite left.

On May 12, Representative Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez said anyone who took her literally about the world ending in 12 years over climate change would “have to have the social intelligence of a sea sponge.” A new survey by Rasmussen indicates most Democrats have such social intelligence. They took her literally, and therefore they all possess sea-sponge-intellects, according to their young cult leader.

This is a technique of the GOP, to take dry humor + sarcasm literally and “fact check” it.

Like the “world ending in 12 years” thing, you’d have to have the social intelligence of a sea sponge to think it’s literal.

But the GOP is basically Dwight from The Office so who knows. https://t.co/pmkwrdeAnq

— Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (@AOC) May 12, 2019

67% of Democrats believe the United States has only 12 years to aggressively fight climate change or else there will be disastrous and irreparable damage to the country and the world.

This is the problem with radical progressive politicians like AOC. She mixes hyperbole with her actual feelings and doesn’t give indications as to when she’s being literal and when she’s using “dry humor + sarcasm.” But if you listen to one of the many instances where she makes the claim about 12-years-until-apocalypse, she seems deadly serious.

She’s not the biggest problem, though. The real problems are the millions of sheep who follow here without question, who believe everything she says and support everything she does. The left often argues that President Trump’s most passionate followers are like a cult, but even the President’s supporters aren’t as dedicated when it comes to taking him literally as AOC’s cult following is with her claims. The response to Trump’s actions and statements are supported but measured. Moreover, I’ve seen (and participated in) plenty of pushback against some of his policies from tariffs to firearm restrictions to dealing with North Korea.

We hear fairly regularly about pushback from prominent conservatives, and oftentimes the President takes this pushback into account when making decisions. But with AOC, the only occasional pushback comes from the Democratic establishment as Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi or other old school Democrats jab at AOC a bit. Otherwise, she’s unabated in her rhetoric and unchecked in her actions.

Here’s the sad part. If you were to tell AOC’s followers they were sea sponges for taking her literally, they’d scream at you. But if you showed them that SHE called them sea sponges, they’d nod and say, “Oh, if AOC said it, I must be a sea sponge.”

Senator Lindsey Graham (R-SC) went on Fox News with Sean Hannity today to discuss how many Democratic lawmakers and candidates for president have gone into full-blown impeachment hysteria. He made a pair of excellent points.

First, he noted that the Democrats are doing so at their own peril. It’s difficult for them to justify pushing forward following failed investigations and realizations that their narrative about President Trump colluding with the Russians was patently false. The American people have and well continue to see through their attacks as nothing more than unhinged anti-Trump rhetoric designed to distract voters from their own shortcomings. Nevertheless, they’re forced into this line of thinking by the hyper-leftist base that is essentially telling them to take the impeachment way or the highway.

But he noted something else equally important. He said, “The public’s going to kick the Democrats out of power and they’re going to reelect the President if he stays focused on doing the job for the American people.” [emphasis mine]

This is extremely important to understand because the President is known as a fighter. Ever since Attorney General William Barr released his summary of the Mueller Report, the President has Tweeted and talked about it almost non-stop. As recently as this morning, he focused again on the Democrats coming after him.

….But they really want a do-over! You can’t investigate and legislate simultaneously – it just doesn’t work that way. You can’t go down two tracks at the same time. Let Chuck, Nancy, Jerry, Adam and all of the rest finish playing their games….

— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) May 22, 2019

Graham is correct. If the President keeps doing what he’s been doing in the Oval Office and refrains from being drawn into the Democrats’ petty battles with him, the people will appreciate it. If he goes low with them, there could be challenges.