Is it too much to ask for an ounce of chill in this process?

Just an ounce. In reaching for something to prove your Trumpist loyalty, there are a million ways you could fill out the mad lib “Trump’s impeachment is less just than _______________” without proceeding directly to “the execution of the son of God.”

The Holocaust. Slavery. The new Star Wars movie.

Look at how relatively mellow Mike Kelly is, invoking an ambush on the United States that drew the country into a world war in searching for infamous days in American history to compare today to:

Rep. Mike Kelly: “On December 7, 1941, a horrific act happened in the United States, and it's one that President Roosevelt said, “This is a date that will live in infamy.” Today, December 18th, 2019, is another date that will live in infamy.” pic.twitter.com/NNpL4n01x9

— Axios (@axios) December 18, 2019

Kelly really likes Pearl Harbor analogies when criticizing bad Democratic ideas. Clay Higgins was even more relaxed, finding himself in “the belly of the beast” and beholding “the terror within” but without any analogies to the Blood of the Lamb:

America is being severely injured by this betrayal, by this unjust and weaponized impeachment. pic.twitter.com/mwXQHE78Mu

— Rep. Clay Higgins (@RepClayHiggins) December 18, 2019

His map is nice but the “threat from within” won the popular vote by several million ballots last time with an historically unlikable candidate leading it. Chris Stewart also eschewed historical analogies this afternoon, preferring instead to level threats that every president going forward will be impeached with the impeachment bar now so low:

GOP Rep. Chris Stewart: "If this impeachment is successful, the next president, I promise you, is going to be impeached, and the next president after that. If you set this bar as being impeachable, every president in our future will be impeached." https://t.co/ueFbOlst2x pic.twitter.com/3uj0jPZDDQ

— World News Tonight (@ABCWorldNews) December 18, 2019

That threat has been made by others recently but it doesn’t square with the mounting evidence that impeachment has done nothing politically to help Democrats and might well end up costing them House seats next fall. Bush and Obama were each despised by the other party’s base and each had to contend for parts of their presidency with a House of Representatives run by the other party, but the lesson from the Clinton era that impeachment might backfire kept the opposition away from it. We’ll certainly get more impeachments if Trump ends up losing next year and/or Pelosi expands her House majority. But if he ends up being reelected and Democrats lose seats, Kevin McCarthy won’t come within a thousand miles of impeachment once he’s Speaker lest the GOP suffer Pelosi’s fate.

And let’s face it: Under President Hillary Clinton, a Republican House probably would have found reason to impeach her too, no? Some righties wanted her impeached preemptively. The idea that Democrats have crossed some line that both parties would have otherwise deemed sacrosanct in an age of crazed hyperpartisanship is goofy.

Below you’ll find the clip Barry Loudermilk making his Jesus analogy, a reminder that there’s really no such thing as being tone-deaf as a Republican in the age of Trump provided that your tone-deafness is in service to Trump’s cult of personality. The president will appreciate the comparison; evangelical Republicans won’t say boo; and to the extent that centrist voters find it distasteful, that’s A-OK since the GOP’s theory of the case in 2020 is that they can win every election just by mobilizing their base. There’s no need to stay cool for the benefit of swing voters. There are no “swing voters.” Just feed the right’s sense of grievance, the more outlandishly and soundbite-able the better, and trust that the turnout you need will be there. The irony of Loudermilk’s complaint about due process, meanwhile, is that it applies more forcefully to the Republican Senate than it does to the House, since the Senate is the trial phase of impeachment and trial is where most constitutional protections for defendants attach. The average American also gets less due process at the indictment phase of the criminal process than the messiah and savior of mankind got at his Roman tribunal 2,000 years ago but you won’t hear guys like Loudermilk complain about that, just like you scarcely heard a Republican in Congress complain about the FISA process until last week. It’s all special pleading on Trump’s behalf, not a matter of any principle.

Exit question: What will Mitch “I don’t want witnesses at the trial” McConnell do to guarantee the president’s right to confront his accusers?

.@RepLoudermilk: "When Jesus was falsely accused of treason, Pontius Pilate gave Jesus the opportunity to face his accusers. During that sham trial, Pontius Pilate afforded more rights to Jesus than the Democrats have afforded this president in this process." pic.twitter.com/t5z6ExlHDb

— CSPAN (@cspan) December 18, 2019