8/22/2018

DEMS/GOP/LEGAL/MICHAEL COHEN/PAUL MANAFORT/TRUMP AS PRESIDENT: “Mounting legal problems confronting President Trump and the GOP are rattling the political map nationwide, forcing Democratic and Republican candidates alike to rethink election strategies just weeks before the midterm. And the debate around impeachment — or as many Democrats prefer to frame it, the ‘culture of Republican corruption’ in Washington — promises to dominate scores of congressional races…As if the convictions and guilty pleas of close Trump associates were not trouble enough, he said, the recent indictments of two Republican House members who were among the president’s earliest loyalists have created a full-blown political crisis for the GOP…The convictions of Trump’s former personal attorney Michael Cohen and former campaign manager Paul Manafort have Democratic strategists scrambling to capitalize, even in Trump-country districts where tearing down the president was until this week seen as a risky strategy…But Democrats would be wise to proceed cautiously. They need look back to only the impeachment of one of their own, former President Bill Clinton, for a lesson on the dangers of overreach. Their challenge could be building a case around ‘corruption,’ but avoiding talk of ‘impeachment’ that could turn off crucial swing voters who are not itching for the president to be driven from office.”

Evan Halper and Sarah D. Wire, “Can Democrats leverage Trump’s legal problems in the midterm election or will they overreach?,” The Los Angeles Times, August 22, 2018 12:50 pm