Democrats are in a quagmire they created with a full-frontal impeachment flop. Consider the political landscape as President Donald Trump's acquittal looms large:

— Trump's approval hit 49% on Tuesday, 4 points higher than a popular President Barack Obama's rating at this point in his reelection campaign.

— The high approval rating came before Trump gave a State of the Union address Tuesday that highlights a list of irrefutable positives in an era of high prosperity and relative peace. He had Democrats squirming in their seats, refusing to applaud successes that improve the lives of all demographics.

— Monday's messy Iowa caucuses appear to have Pete Buttigieg — a white, male, small-town mayor — as the Democratic front-runner. This, from the party that campaigns on diversity.

— Self-proclaimed "Democratic socialist" Bernie Sanders, another white male, appears to be in second place.

— Former Vice President Joe Biden, who consistently polls most likely to defeat Trump, is not among the top-tier finalists in Iowa.

— Trump attracted crowds to a rally in blue-state New Jersey in such numbers they were camped outside a major arena days before the speech. As usual, thousands more came than the building could hold. Overflowing rallies are an unprecedented indicator in presidential politics.

— Trump will brand acquittal like a marketing mastermind.

Tuesday's State of the Union humiliated House Democrats, to the point Democratic House Speaker Nancy Pelosi childishly tore up a printout on national TV. Trump spotlighted the duly elected president of Venezuela, a country that symbolizes the failure of socialism. He honored a 100-year-old Tuskegee airman and his grandson who aspires to serve in the newly created Space Force, based in Colorado Springs.

Trump championed school choice and what it means for minorities and the poor, granting a scholarship to an African American girl. He detailed a plan for lower health care costs. He compared the failures of socialism with the successes of capitalism. He reunited a deployed serviceman with his wife and daughter. It was a disaster for the left.

There is good news for the Democratic Party. That is, things cannot get much worse. They might get better. They say it is darkest before the dawn.

To understand why Democrats find themselves here, consider the way they bungled an impeachment case built on wishful thinking. It was an embarrassment during the State of the Union.

A few days before the speech, Wall Street Journal editorial board member Kimberly Strassel spelled it out.

"The impeachment trial of Donald J. Trump is coming down to one big question: Will Democrats, by crying wolf, drown out the more legitimate Republican cry of foul?" Strassel asks in a column for the Journal.

The drowning seems obvious. Republicans based their cry of foul, as Strassel explains, on facts that will never go away:

— In the basement, House Democrats "held secret depositions, barring more than three-quarters of House members, as well as the press and the American public." Foul.

— House Democrats "called 18 witnesses but blocked the president from calling any in his defense." Foul.

— House Democrats excluded the White House legal team from proceedings. Foul.

— "House Intelligence Chairman Adam Schiff secretly obtained and published the communications records of the president's private attorney, a member of Congress and a reporter." Foul.

— "Democrats withdrew their court challenge to compel a key witness, depriving the White House of the ability to defend its executive-privilege claim in court." Foul.

Etc., ad infinitude.

Most important, as previously explained in this space, the impeachment articles contained nothing rising to the level of a high crime or misdemeanor. Nothing the House sent the Senate rattles the nonpartisan demographic that determines election outcomes. Congress passed the articles on a 100% partisan basis.

Democrats proved their case. Indeed, the president almost certainly spoke with advisers about an idea.

Trump considered conditioning military aid on an agreement that Ukraine would investigate suspected corruption involving Biden and his son, when Biden served in the White House and headed U.S.-Ukraine policy. Most Americans support rooting out corruption. The fact Biden planned to run against Trump does not inoculate him from inquiries into all past deeds.

A large portion of the country understands this and does not really care if Trump considered, or even asked for, an investigation into credible concerns of corruption. If this were not so, Trump's approval would not be at an all-time high.

If former national security adviser John Bolton and 50 other witnesses proved Trump's consideration of a quid pro quo, it wouldn't change a thing. Ultimately, after introspection, Americans expect presidents to attach conditions before releasing hundreds of millions in foreign aid we borrow and cannot afford.

Republicans have every good reason to shut down the impeachment circus this week. In doing so, they might do their opponents a favor. Leaders in the Democratic Party would be wise to get serious about substantive policy ideas that will determine who wins the White House. They don't need an impeachment. They need a message and a candidate to sell it, as the clock ticks away.

REPRINTED FROM THE COLORADO SPRINGS GAZETTE

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