Reporters and writers who care about understanding the Trump era need to pay a lot closer attention to the role of self-imposed Democratic helplessness. There's a really stunning example of it going on right now. In the sweep of history it's minor but it's incredibly revealing.

If you urge Democrats to impeach before Monday, you'll probably get a bunch of responses shouting at you about the House rules, claiming Dems are moving as fast as possible and that it's impossible to reconvene before then.

These claims appear to be false - there are ways to end the House's recess. Besides, it's strange to claim the Dems are moving with urgency when Pelosi is the one who recessed the House in the first place.

But what's even stranger than these claims is where they're coming from.

The main source appears to be a series of tweets by none other than Christine Pelosi, Nancy's daughter. So it's coming pretty directly from the Speaker's circle.

Why are people close to Pelosi falsely exaggerating the weakness of the legislative body she presides over?

Of course it's annoying to have huge numbers of people shouting "WE CAN'T DO ANYTHING."

But I'd also argue this is indicative of fundamental to the Trump era, which is Pelosi, and House leaders more generally, taking the most constrained possible view of their own powers.

At almost every opportunity, Dem leaders argue that they have less power than it appears, rather than broadly asserting their authority. Even the delay of this impeachment appears intended create to space for other resolutions (resignation, 25th Amendment) that bypass the House.

Put bluntly, it looks like Pelosi and Dem elders prefer to AVOID EXERCISING POWER WHENEVER POSSIBLE, so much so that they'll spread dubious theories about roadblocks that do not actually exist.

And I'd argue this is very, very important if you want to understand how Trump got so out of control!

Trump is the EXACT OPPOSITE of Pelosi in this regard. He constantly asserts authorities he doesn't have, claiming "absolute" authority to ignore subpoenas, fill vacancies, stymy investigations, and commandeer funding.

Anyone want to guess what happens when an executive branch asserting totalistic power that it DOESN'T have meets a legislative branch disclaiming or minimizing the powers that it DOES have?

You can't understand Trump's tenure without understanding the forces he was up against. Or this case, wasn't up against.