Faced with pressure from his own Democratic party to confront President Trump, Senate minority leader Chuck Schumer (D-NY) is not ruling out another impeachment.

It is little more than bluster from Schumer, who has no power to remove Trump from office. Schumer has faced questions about his own political future after angering his party by agreeing to pass a Trump-backed spending bill.

Schumer on impeachment

A longtime fixture in Washington, Schumer's critics argue he has been too passive about resisting Trump's agenda, which Democrats claim is causing a constitutional crisis.

During a CNN interview, Schumer accused Trump in broad terms of undermining the "rule of law," echoing Democratic talking points that claim Trump is asserting autocratic powers.

"Well, look, right now, President Trump is violating rule of law in every way and we’re fighting him every single day in every way," he told CNN's Dana Bash.

"And our goal is to show the American people over and over again, whether it’s the economy, whether it’s tariffs, whether it’s Russia and overseas and whether it’s rule of law, how bad he is. And you know, it’s two years it’s too far away to predict. Our job is day to day to day to show who Trump is, what he is doing, and it’s having an effect as your polls show," he said.

When asked if he would rule out the prospect of impeachment, he demurred, saying, "Look, it’s too far away to even judge."

Same old playbook

Impeaching Trump poses risks for Democrats, who are facing a slump in public approval since getting thumped by Trump in the fall.

While Trump is also sliding in the polls, Schumer seems to sense there is little appetite for yet another impeachment spectacle that is certain to lead nowhere.

For impeachment to actually count, Democrats would need to secure a two-thirds majority in the Senate for a conviction. Without those votes, they're just engaging in political theater.

Even if Democrats won back a bare majority in the Senate in the midterm elections - and anything beyond that is improbable given political polarization - they would require support from Republicans, and Trump has the GOP under his thumb.

Desperate

The impeachment power has lost much of its political impact, anyway, after Democrats' prior two impeachments, which both ended in Trump's acquittal. A desperate effort by Democrats to sabotage Trump's 2024 campaign with criminal charges also failed.

Since their wipeout in November, polls have painted a bleak picture of the Democratic party's reputation. If Democrats resort to impeachment again, they will only reinforce the perception that they are out of touch and obsessed with tearing down Trump, instead of cleaning up their own act.

Even still, impeachment talk continues to be an attention-getter for low-ranking Democrats like Shri Thanedar, (D-MI), who introduced articles of impeachment on Monday that target virtually every aspect of Trump's agenda, from tariffs to deportations.