NOTE FROM NORM: Memo To Nancy Pelosi

MEMO

To:  Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi

From:  Norm Coleman

Re:  Democrats Impeachment of President Donald Trump and the 2020 Election

By now it is apparent that your decision to pursue impeachment against President Donald Trump has been wildly successful in mobilizing your Caucus.

While it is true that 3 Democrats voted against impeaching the President, and zero Republicans voted to impeach him, you can’t be faulted for trying to claim this was a bipartisan exercise.

That it was bipartisan in the sense that no Republicans were for it – and nearly all Democrats were for it – may be a new alternative fact of interest to virtually nobody.

Now that you have achieved the signature accomplishment of the Democrats since assuming power in January of 2019 it’s a good time to assess where things are at with respect to the 2020 election cycle as we head into the New Year.

• The U.S. Stock Market is at record highs.
• Compared to November 2016 in which the Unemployment rate was 4.7%, today it is at 3.5%
• Today there are nearly 159 million Americans who are employed. In 2016 at this time there were about 152 million Americans employed
• The civilian labor force participation rate today is 63.2 percent versus 62.7 percent in November 2016
• Wage growth for non-supervisory and production workers in the private sector has risen since President Trump took office
• Total household income has increased

As you gear up for the 2020 election cycle Democrats should, of course, reflect on the status of the U.S. Presidential Race, particularly as it relates to the party’s eventual nominee.

Here’s what we know today about the leading candidates for the Democratic nomination:

• Bernie Sanders is a Socialist running to secure the nomination of the Democratic Party. This reality underscores the fact that many of the party’s activists are clamoring for more government control over the lives of the American people. Democrats running for President, as well as a majority of your House Caucus, fear calling Sanders a Socialist for fear that if he is the party nominee they will, in effect, be running on the same platform as a Socialist.
• Joe Biden has been in the lead for much of the campaign since he got into the race. While party activists dismiss his campaign as nothing more than the 2^nd Act of the Obama Administration, party donors are desperate to keep Biden in the race in the hopes of “moderating” the influence of Sanders and others.  Sanders and Warren supporters are loathe to support Biden should he become the party nominee.
• Elizabeth Warren who used to claim she was a Capitalist is now attempting to run even further left of Sanders to secure the party’s nomination. While there is no clear proof that Warren actually does believe in Socialism it is true that, according to Forbes, she and her husband have amassed a fortune of $12 million.  There is no evidence that she has a “Wine Cave.”
• Pete Buttigieg has transformed being the Mayor of South Bend, Indiana – population 102,245 — into being one of the four leading candidates for the Democratic Presidential nomination. While the city isn’t in the largest 300 cities in the United States, and he received 8,515 votes in getting re-elected Mayor of the City, there are apparently a growing number of Democrats who believe he is prepared to lead a nation with a population over 327 million people.

As you and the Democratic Leadership of the House contemplate your re-election campaigns next November it’s clear that the narrative about why Democrats should remain in charge of the House is as follows:

• Democrats do not like Donald Trump
• Donald Trump doesn’t like Democrats

It is important to note that lacking any compelling narrative as to why the President should be impeached other than a partisan desire of the Democratic Caucus there should be at least a compelling narrative as to why Democrats should be entrusted to maintain control of the House.

Here’s what it may look like given the public pronouncements of the party’s leading candidate for President, as well as the most vocal members of the Democratic Caucus:

• Eliminating private health insurance for nearly 68% of Americans who have health insurance in favor of “Medicare for All.”
• Eliminating the nation’s border patrol and creating open borders
• Passing the so-called “Green New Deal” at a cost of 1.4 million lost jobs and a hit to the taxpayer of nearly $4 trillion
• Repealing the 2017 tax bill that provided for a massive infusion of private capital into the economy and tax cuts for nearly every American taxpayer

It is true that the President is not everybody’s cup of tea – especially those in your Caucus.

It is equally true that despite all of this he has somehow, or another been able to accomplish a substantial degree of what he said he would try to accomplish.

He’s forced China to the table to negotiate trade – he secured a renegotiated NAFTA trade agreement – he recognized Jerusalem as Israel’s Capitol – has worked to forge agreements on border security and immigration reform – and created the Space Force.

Less than a year from now we will see whether the actions of House Democrats were what the American people wanted in 2018.

In America elections have consequences.

It will be interesting to see what those consequences will be in 2020.