Trump has so skillfully flooded the zone with action that Democrats, and also many of their allies in the press, don't know what to oppose and what to let slide.

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This week, Rep. Jamie Raskin of Maryland, the top Democrat on the House Judiciary Committee, raised the prospect of impeaching President Donald Trump over the Justice Department's decision to withdraw the indictment of New York City Mayor Eric Adams. The Trump administration is engaged in "an attack on the Department of Justice for engaging in corruption prosecutions," Raskin told CBS on Sunday. Such behavior "could be impeachable in a different political environment."

A shorter version is that you can bet the bank Raskin would be gung-ho to impeach Trump if there were only a "different political environment." The problem, of course, is that the Constitution specifies that impeachment must begin in the House of Representatives, which is, at the moment, controlled by Republicans. But the gap between the parties is incredibly narrow, and who knows what will happen in the 2026 midterm elections.

The other aspect of a "different political environment" is the state of the Democratic Party. Democratic leaders know the party's poor performance on the issues that decided the 2024 election – the economy, immigration, a world in disarray – calls for self-examination and change. At the same time, many Democrats are driven by a basic political urge to attack Trump. That's what the opposition party does, doesn't it?

But that's a problem, too. The news is filled with reports of Democrats, dazed by Trump's first month in office, trying to figure out what to do next. Trump has so skillfully flooded the zone with action that Democrats, and also many of their allies in the press, don't know what to oppose and what to let slide.

This is a new and strange feeling for them. Just compare early 2025 with early 2017, the first weeks of Trump's first administration. 

Back then, there was talk about impeaching Trump, or finding some other way to remove him, well before he was sworn in. But a notable moment occurred on Inauguration Day, Jan. 20, 2017, at 12:19 p.m., when the Washington Post published a story headlined, "The Campaign to Impeach President Trump Has Begun." At that moment, Trump had been president for 19 minutes. With Democrats the aggressors, a struggle began that would result in two impeachments, the second one lasting beyond Trump's term in office.

The unfounded accusation that Trump had "colluded" with Russia to fix the 2016 presidential election dominated Trump's transition and early weeks in office. (Of course, it then went on to dominate much of Trump's entire presidency, as well.) On Jan. 10, 2017, CNN introduced the world to the Steele dossier, a compilation of salacious falsehoods that shaped much of the coverage of Trump in the years that followed. Trump denied the allegations; he was right, of course, but that meant he spent his time denying allegations rather than governing.

All of January 2017, and then February as well, were dominated by allegations about Russia and Trump's national security adviser, Michael Flynn. On Jan. 24, Trump's fourth day in office, the FBI, acting on a phony pretense of investigating a possible Logan Act violation, went to the White House to interview Flynn. Each day was filled with more leaked reports about Flynn, who finally resigned on Feb.13.

It is impossible to overstate how much what Trump now calls Russia-Russia-Russia dominated the first weeks and months of his presidency. It went on and on through May, when Trump's firing of FBI Director James Comey led to the appointment of special counsel Robert Mueller. Then it went on and on after that. When Mueller, after more than two years of investigation, could not establish that collusion ever actually occurred, Democrats turned on a dime and impeached Trump for something else.

What is striking today is that nothing like this is happening. Yes, Democrats are trying to create the Big Issue that develops momentum, consumes the daily news cycle, and puts Trump on the defensive. Some hope it will be the Eric Adams matter. Others are trying to do it with Elon Musk and DOGE. 

But so far, they haven't been able to shift the anti-Trump outrage machine into high gear. Instead, majorities of voters support a number of the main things Trump is doing. Recently ABC's Jonathan Karl recited several poll numbers to top House Democrat Rep. Hakeem Jeffries. "Sixty-three percent favor the federal government's recognition of only two sexes," Karl said. "Sixty percent favor deporting immigrants who entered the United States illegally. Sixty percent favor expanding oil and gas production. Fifty-nine percent favor declaring an emergency at the southern border." 

Karl asked Jeffries for a response. "We're just at the beginning," Jeffries said. "We're going to continue to work together in an all-hands-on-deck effort to push back against the far-right extremism that is being unleashed on this country with record velocity."

That's the plan. Just keep attacking. But it's no surprise that Democrats seem stunned and confused. Things could always change, but at least for now, it's not 2017 anymore.

Byron York is chief political correspondent for The Washington Examiner.

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