'Unless you support impeachment, we're not supporting you'

[DonViejo]

The billionaire activist lays down a 2020 litmus test.

By MAGGIE SEVERNS 01/28/2019 05:02 AM

Tom Steyer has built a formidable political organization that could give serious help to a presidential candidate in 2020, but the billionaire activist is on his own as the contest begins to take shape.

“In Washington, D.C., talking to pundits and congresspeople — it’s super lonely,” Steyer told POLITICO on Sunday during a visit to the District for a summit of his Need to Impeach organization. “Oh, God, inside the Beltway everybody thinks I’m a low-double-digit IQ.”

That’s because Steyer is continuing to focus his energy on one of the hardest-to-sell issues in Democratic politics today: calling for lawmakers to begin impeachment proceedings against President Donald Trump, an effort that he says should start immediately despite most party leaders’ repeated calls to wait until after special counsel Robert Mueller finishes his investigation.

Steyer, a hedge fund manager and environmentalist who recently chose not to pursue his own presidential bid, plans to spend $40 million in 2019 on the impeachment effort, working to galvanize the email list of 7 million supporters he’s gathered into an active grassroots army capable of pushing politicians up and down the ballot on the issue. But candidates currently exploring bids for president haven’t indicated they’re open to calling for Trump’s impeachment — a fact that doesn’t seem to daunt Steyer, who only grows more animated the more he rails about impropriety in Washington.

Sens. Elizabeth Warren (D-Mass.), Kamala Harris (D-Calif.) and Kirsten Gillibrand (D-N.Y.) have all stopped short of calling for impeachment when asked about it in recent months, instead focusing their comments on how Congress should protect Mueller’s Russia investigation.

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https://www.politico.com/story/2019/01/28/tom-steyer-impeachment-trump-democrats-1128625

[Blue_Tires]

1. Nobody wins with political ultimatums