Why Isn't a Rape Allegation Worth an Impeachment Inquiry?

To watch the public impeachment hearings of Donald Trump is to experience a very particular form of whiplash. The House inquiry has featured a series of collisions, between Democrats and Republicans, yes, but also between accountability and its opposite. Here is a proceeding led in part by lawmakers who have, when it comes to the president, repeatedly prioritized fealty over facts. And here is the key question at hand—did Donald Trump extort a U.S. ally for his own political gain?—chafing against the other questionable matters not being addressed in the hearing: the , the , the . The precision guiding the House inquiry——is ; it is a proportional response. Watching it play out, however, is a little like watching Hannibal Lecter getting tried