Treason Season??

[Labster]

Of course, the expectation is that the Republicans are going to do everything they can to sabotage the trial, which explains part of why the Democratic leaders are so reluctant to actually move to an impeachment of the current president.

You have effect and cause mixed up here.  Republicans attempting to sabotage the trial is not a part of Democratic decision-making on this issue.  The calculus is pretty simple: if Dems start the impeachment process and fail, then it hands the right an issue to ensure that their base turns out heavily in the next election.  If the trial has the wrong timing, it makes the "witch hunt" thing seem true to a large segment of voters.  Trump himself actually wants the impeachment fight, so he can keep arguing the Deep State thing into the next election.

The price of failure is awfully high.  It means a fully unchecked Trump Administration.  All of the the "adults in the room" have left the White House already, so the Democratic House is the only thing keeping his base desires in check.  And Trump's desires, well, they're bad for liberal democracy throughout the world.  Including in your country.

Winning probably means a Pence presidency, and a whole lot of chaos, and you've still energized the republican base from the impeachment into the next election.  You also probably energize an armed group or three who will cause violence in the wake of the "coup d'etat".  Trump is already laying the groundwork for this.

So the status quo looks like an attractive option -- a good chance of winning the presidency in 2020, and a check on the excesses of power in the meantime.   The main problem is that this means that impeachment of any U.S. President is probably off the table forever.  But maybe it was already.