I was surprised to hear so many moderate Democrats express how disgusted they were with the impeachment proceedings. People that I have known for years as strong Democrats seemed to feel that the impeachment sucked so much oxygen out of the media cycle, that Democratic Presidential candidates were a side show. Many need the media exposure to become viable alternatives to Trump.

They fear Biden will be a “no show” since once the impeachment hearings move to the Senate, it will be all about Biden not Trump. The Republicans will control the process in the Senate and will use it to show Biden corruption. Instead of witnesses being called by Democrats regarding the Trump call to Ukraine, the witnesses will be people that heard Biden threaten the Ukrainian government to justify Trump’s actions. What a twist!

In the meantime, without the media covering the candidates closer, some other moderate Democrat won’t be able to capture enough support to mount a viable challenge to the Warren/Sanders wing of the party. How can these candidates get their messages out when the news cycle is Trump 24 hours a day.

The moderate Democrats I spoke with seem resigned to Trump for four more years, so while they won’t vote for Trump, they would stay home, if Sanders or Warren won the Democratic nomination. Almost like 2016 in reverse where some of Sanders supporters stayed home.

Moderate Democrats are not prepared to support a far left progressive liberal Democrat for President. The normal policy reconciliation process that occurs as the number of candidates shrink and the remaining candidates attempt to pull their opponents’ supporters under their umbrella is not happening. Instead even more candidates are entering the picture and others are being promoted as contested convention candidates.

So I wonder who is suffering more… Trump or the Democratic party?