It’s Thursday, January 30. The World Health Organization declared the Coronavirus outbreak a public health emergency. “To succeed, Trump will have to trust the kind of government experts he has disdained to date,” writes the former Ebola Czar Ron Klain.
On Capitol Hill, the impeachment trial’s Q&A period ends tonight before a vote on new witnesses tomorrow.
In the rest of today’s newsletter: Adam Schiff was never going to be the hero Democrats wanted. Plus: 2020 Democrats learn to love the Imperial presidency.
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(Tom Brenner / Getty)
Democrats Are Still Searching for a Savior
Since 2016, Democrats have been hopelessly looking for one thing: a savior. Since Trump took up residence at 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue, the left has been itching for anyone and anything to put an end to their MAGA misery. But while Democrats keep pinning their hopes on a cast of would-be heroes, they have been let down again and again and again.
The latest potential savior? Adam Schiff. The California congressman-turned-impeachment manager has relished his role as Trump’s top adversary in Congress, fueling whispers of a potential Senate run.
But as impeachment seems poised to end in Trump’s acquittal, Democrats are coming to realize that Schiff’s rousing speeches aren’t doing a thing to budge the outcome, as my colleague Todd Purdum writes:
Now, with the defendant’s foregone acquittal in sight as soon as tomorrow, it’s all come down to Schiff, the terminally earnest chairman of the House Intelligence Committee. Schiff’s powers, while formidable, have proved just as un-super as everyone else’s in the near-lockstep partisan loyalty that fear of Trump has produced.
It’s a pattern that dates back, in part, to Robert Mueller. Democrats mythologized the notoriously quiet special counsel, who oversaw the Russia investigation, as a Superhero-type figure who could bring down the president. (Among the Mueller-themed wares that were up for sale at one point: a prayer candle, Christmas ornaments, and throw pillows.)