A group of House Democrats is introducing a “no confidence” resolution against the President. No one involved thinks this is likely to go anywhere while Republicans control the House, but it’s another way for Democrats to signal their ongoing resistance to Trump. From the Hill:

Sponsored by Rep. Steve Cohen (D-Tenn.), the resolution has been endorsed by 23 more Democrats…

“Is it going to have an effect on him? Apparently, his family members don’t have an effect on him; his Republican friends don’t; his Cabinet members don’t,” Cohen conceded.

But with Trump’s approval rating at historic lows, the Democrats are hoping to send a message to voters that they’re sympathetic to the public’s frustration with the White House.

“This is an attempt at a political intervention,” Cohen said.

According to the Hill, one of the outrages Democrats raised at a press conference announcing the resolution today was Trump’s undisclosed meeting with Vladimir Putin during a dinner held at the G20 Summit. Just this morning, German Chancellor Angela Merkel threw cold water on that story. From the Associated Press:

Merkel spokesman Steffen Seibert wouldn’t comment Wednesday on specific conversations but said the dinner “did, exactly as hoped, produce a lively exchange” between many participants. He said “the chancellor, in any case, was not surprised or confused by anything.”

In other words, this was not a big deal. You can read the 17-page resolution here. Basically, it’s a laundry list of complaints about the President. A sample:

Whereas President Trump has called press reports, ‘‘fake news’’ and in some instances his administration has prohibited video recordings of White House press briefings;

Whereas President Trump used Twitter to circulate a video of him violently wrestling a man covered by a CNN logo, which, according to the Reporters Committee on Freedom
of the Press, was a ‘‘threat of physical violence against journalists . . and beneath the office of the presidency.’’;

After 14 pages of that, the resolution demands Trump release his tax returns, “refrain from using Twitter inappropriately,”refrain from calling reporting ‘fake news’,” etc. That’s really all this is. A list of demands from liberal Democrats trying to keep their base happy. It’s not going anywhere but it might get some of the signatories a spot on CNN or MSNBC to talk about all the things they don’t like about President Trump.

The resolution is part of a broader, ongoing disagreement within the Democratic party between those who want to focus on Trump and the more moderate members who believe the party needs to talk about issues that appeal to voters beyond the party’s base, i.e. jobs, the economy, etc. For the moment, it appears the liberals wanting to throw red meat to their own partisans are still in control.