Looking back at 2019, many House Democrats voiced support for impeaching the President, some even making their declarations before the conclusion of the Mueller Report.  Confident that Mueller’s report would prove some connection between Trump and Russian election interference, these House Democrats jumped the gun and found themselves out on a precariously thin logical branch.

But when the Mueller Report concluded and failed to establish any proof of a connection between Trump and Russia, some members of Congress could not come to grips with the facts.  Undaunted by a nation utterly sick of a never-ending impeachment effort, Rep. Katie Porter (D-Irvine) joined the likes of Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez and Adam Schiff and jumped head first into prolonging the fight.

In a dimly lit, confessional style video, Katie Porter announced that Mueller’s report was more of a jumping off point in her eyes to continue to attempt to impeach the President.  Porter even released a thick treatise on how to read the Mueller report so that you, like her, would see that the report supported her continued investigation into an otherwise unproven connection between the President and Russia.

Today I wanted to speak directly to the people of CA-45. There’s been a lot of noise in D.C. and in the press about impeachment, so I wanted to share my thoughts with you. pic.twitter.com/ceri6lHwbY

— Rep. Katie Porter (@RepKatiePorter) June 18, 2019

That was June 2019.  Since that date, Porter and House Democrats have seemingly abandoned their Mueller/Russia strategy and have instead pinned their hopes on impeaching the President on a new, factually disputed concept that the President asked the Ukrainian President to interfere in the next US Election.

Read my statement on the articles of impeachment against the President ⬇️ pic.twitter.com/JdbI0NVLZM

— Rep. Katie Porter (@RepKatiePorter) December 13, 2019

Whether Porter failed to convince her Democratic colleagues of the merits of impeachment based off her reading of the Mueller Report or if she was convinced to back the new strategy is unclear from her statement.  But by entirely abandoning her original rationale for beginning an impeachment inquiry the public is left scratching their heads on Porter’s sincerity given her conflicting statements.

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While the politics of attacking President Trump at any cost may play well in liberal pockets of San Francisco and downtown Los Angeles, in Porter’s Orange County district the issue has far less support.

If the current national trend continues, this could spell trouble for House members like Porter who ran as moderates in 2018 only to lurch violently leftward once elected.  As unpopular as impeachment is becoming, Porter’s positions on Medicare for All and outlawing private insurance remain incredibly unpopular.

A recent Gallup poll shows that President Trump’s approval rating has actually increased while his unfavorable rating has decreased in the lead up to this week’s impeachment vote.

Additionally, Porter’s vote for impeachment will come on the heels of a string of policy wins this week and new records being set on Wall Street.