The Speaker of the House, Nancy Pelosi, created a bit of stir this week when she weighed in on the question of impeaching Donald Trump. It’s a question that has been asked by many in political circles, as well as millions of Americans troubled by the President’s unsavory associations with Russia, obstruction of justice, financial corruption, and other pending crimes.

Pelosi made a fairly conclusive statement in a response to an inquiry by the Washington Post. While many people on both sides of this issue interpreted her remarks differently, they had a distinct tone that couldn’t help but indicate an openness to impeachment under the right circumstances. She said that:

“Impeachment is so divisive to the country that unless there’s something so compelling and overwhelming and bipartisan, I don’t think we should go down that path, because it divides the country. And he’s just not worth it.”

So Pelosi explicitly said that impeachment is on the table if there is compelling evidence and bipartisan participation. The latter would come with the disclosure of the former. She also coyly taunted Trump by saying that he isn’t worth the trouble. That could outrage him so much that he will insist on impeachment hearings just to prove that he is worth it. Which is almost what he did with his Wednesday morning tweetstorm:

So Trump appreciates Pelosi’s statement. You have to wonder if he actually read it or if he was only told about the part where she was reticent to “go down that path.” But without his making any distinction, it appears that he’s cool with impeachment given the same criteria that Pelosi outlined. Which is the criteria that almost everyone supports.

Note also that Trump has the absurd opinion that a president cannot be impeached if he is (or thinks he is) popular and/or successful. Of course that has nothing to with whether or not he broke the law. Richard Nixon had real diplomatic achievements with China, and he signed the bill creating the Environmental Protection Agency. But he was still driven from office for committing flagrant crimes against the country.

What’s more, by Trump’s own standards it’s open season for his impeachment. He has not produced any significant successes other than packing the courts with ultra-rightist judges, exploding the national debt, inflaming tensions in North Korea, abandoning the environment, relieving corporations and the wealthy of their tax burdens, sabotaging healthcare, and generally creating more hatred and division. And for all of that he is sitting on the most persistently low approval ratings in modern times.

So according to Trump, it’s full steam ahead with impeachment. After all, he’s the only one who thinks that he’s the most successful president in history. And as for evidence, the vice-chair of the Senate Intelligence Committee recently said that there’s plenty of it. So if it’s OK with Trump, it’s OK with me. And it’s certainly OK with the seven million plus Americans who have signed the Need to Impeach petition, and also the forty-two percent (up six points since November) who favor impeachment in recent polling. So let’s get on with it, shall we?

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