Warnings

It's no secret that the only real way to rein in Donald Trump and expose both his and his administration's crimes will be if Democrats win control of one or both houses of Congress this year in the midterms. Special Counsel Robert Mueller's criminal investigation of Trump and his associates continues, but that may not uncover all the secrets let alone reveal them to the public.

At the same time, it's no secret that Trump's level of public support remains highly negative but, at the same time, it's not deteriorating at the rate seen with Richard Nixon, for instance, as Watergate revelations compounded. With Democrats in control of one or both houses of Congress, they can hold public hearings about the President's crimes.

During the Watergate era, it was the combination of both congressional hearings and criminal investigations that exposed most if not all of the Trump administration's crimes.

The media published two interesting but somewhat contradictory pieces yesterday offering advice as to how Democrats may prevail this autumn.

In The New Yorker, the always excellent writer Jeffrey Toobin cautioned (link here) that Democrats need to be careful how they message on impeachment. Hitting the note too hard before the election might backfire.

Somewhat in contrast, The Daily Beast published a thoughtful piece yesterday (link here) about how Democrats must become a lot tougher on the Trump scandals or they risk losing the midterms.

Almost as if in response, The Washington Post published an interesting article (link here) about how Democrats in Congress plan to crack down on Trump's corruption as a winning midterm strategy. I think this is the right approach. Focusing on impeachment -- the remedy -- before fully exposing the crimes runs the risk of making such an effort look like a witch hunt.

Trump has supplied plent of rope from which to hang him. Democrats need to figure out how to best use that rope.