Philosophically, I agree with this, but under Nixon and Reagan, the House had been in Democratic hands for decades and would remain so until 1994. Especially during the Watergate era, many members of the House had been in their seats since the New Deal. The Democratic House majority and the seats of most of its members were effectively unassailable. The Senate was comfortably in Democratic hands in the Watergate era as well and it was back-and-forth in the Reagan era. That gave (the Democratic) Congress the true power to impeach Nixon and to check Reagan.

In contrast, today, unless and until gerrymanders in N.C., Wisconsin, and Pennsylvania are corrected, the Democratic majority in the House is tenuous. A Democratic majority in the Senate seems increasingly like a pipe dream until… 2022? 2024? Ever as long as Wyoming gets as many Senators as California? And even then, a 2/3 majority to convict on impeachment seems like a fantasy.

Given these “realities” (and I hate to use that term too) and the fact of a portion of the population effectively brainwashed in favor of Trump and the GOP and many more who are too uninterested or uneducated about politics to care or understand what is even going on… impeachment is an exercise in futility. Hold a vote in the House. Fine. Or don’t. Do a resolution. Whatever. Actual impeachment and sure-to-lose or never be conducted Senate trials? No upside.

HOWEVER, Democrats should promote big policy ideas to move the pendulum back toward the left. I agree with you there. But I think Durbin may be right that spending precious time and resources in the House on impeaching Trump, Kavanagh, Chao, et al. could be used against them and cost them the House or bury them in the Senate.

The Democrats need to fight on the ground to retake a competitive position or majority in the battleground states that will ensure them an unbeatable House majority. THEN they can work on flipping some red states to get a Senate majority. THEN they can unwind the assault on the middle class since 1980. Then they can grow their majorities as people feel the positive effects of those policies and paleo-conservatives die off. THEN they can start impeaching the frauds Trump has put on the bench, including Kavanagh. (Or just grow and pack the court and judiciary as would be much easier, along with making PR & D.C. states, splitting California into two states or whatever else they can do to make the Senate more representative of this country.)

So, I agree with you that we don’t need centrist Democrat candidates. But I disagree that impeachment accomplishes much besides making a note for posterity, and that can be done just as well with investigations and journalism without erecting the lightning rod of actual impeachment votes. Dems just don’t have the political capital on a national scale yet.