Reporter's Notebook: Democrats face an impeachment tractor beam

The Millennium Falcon reference is cute, but the real tractor beam is coming from the left wing of the Democratic caucus. Hakeem Jeffries would rather talk about rents, the border, anything. His problem is that the loudest voices in his party won't let him. They want another run at President Trump, and they don't care what it costs. That’s not a strategy. That’s a compulsion.

The last two impeachments already backfired spectacularly. The first one cost Democrats the House in 2020, and the second one was dead on arrival in a Senate they controlled. Now they’re in the minority, and their response is to start humming the same tune? The definition of insanity is asking for a third bite of a poisoned apple. And yet the base demands it, the cable money loves it, and Jeffries can’t say no. He’s not leading anyone. He’s being dragged.

Here’s the part Democrats keep missing. Trump thrives when he’s the underdog with something to fight. An impeachment push is a gift, not a sentence. It fills his rallies, it gives him a mug-shot moment on repeat, and it makes every GOP voter who was lukewarm suddenly very hot. Swing voters are tired too. They didn’t send Democrats to Washington to relitigate 2020 for the rest of the decade.

Jeffries could end this in about one minute by looking into the camera and calling it what it is: a losing obsession. Instead, he’s letting the loudest quarter of his party set the controls. The House GOP is ready, the voters are watching, and the Falcon has already jumped to lightspeed while the tractor beam grinds on. All that’s left is for Democrats to keep pulling. It’s their own ship that’s going to crack..