Republican Warns Nancy Pelosi On Impeachment: 'If You're Going After the King, You Best Get Him'

GOP strategist Rick Wilson joined a CNN panel discussing Trump impeachment possibilities, where he and another guest argued it's a necessary moral and legal step because "allegations mean nothing" to a "shameless" president.

American University Professor Allan Lichtman, presidential historian Douglas Brinkley and Wilson appeared on CNN host Don Lemon's Wednesday show to analyze whether they believe the Democratic leadership, including House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, will pursue an impeachment process against President Donald Trump. Just hours after Special Counsel Robert Mueller issued a public statement about his report, the panel said impeachment is the moral thing to do because Trump is "so good at deflection, distraction and obstruction" that he swats away and capitalizes on any mere allegations.

During the discussion, Wilson misquoted a line from HBO's The Wire series, in which he warned Pelosi to go all-in on impeachment should she choose to do so because "if you're going to go after the king, you best get him."

"You can't use normal moral-suasion against this guy because he doesn't have any morals," Wilson told the CNN panel, echoing his earlier point "you can't shame the shameless."

"If you're going to go after him, to quote The Wire, if you're going to go after the king, you best get him," Wilson said. "And in this case, she knows she gets one shot at all this. If she blows it, and they don't get him impeached in the House—they won't get him in the Senate, which is also a huge factor here—if they don't do the thing correctly in the House, they never get to go after him again on any of this. He will romp on this and say I've been completely cleared. They couldn't impeach me. We're done."

Wilson's botched quote was actually a line from The Wire character Omar Little played by Michael K. Williams, "You come at the king, you best not miss."

All three panelists appeared to agree that if Pelosi and the Democrats do choose to follow up with impeachment, they better do it quickly and "nail down" all the scandals swirling around the Trump administration.

Lichtman, who has gained widespread notoriety for predicting every presidential election winner since 1984, including Trump in 2016, argued impeachment may be the only way Democrats can defeat him in 2020 due to his political deflection skills.

"Here's why impeachment is different, it would nail down a critical key on my system of 13 keys," Lichtman said, citing his list of presidential election prediction factors, which includes a party mandate, social unrest and scandal.

"Articles of impeachment are not allegations. They are part of a formal process where the House is pointing a finger and saying, 'We believe Donald Trump you are guilty of these high crimes and misdemeanors and then you get a trial in the Senate which everyone is forgetting about. That's what is so critical," he added.

Lichtman also agreed with Wilson's point that Trump and his Republican Party backers can't be embarassed by mere allegations. He suggested a "serious third party" challenger or someone from within the GOP ranks could be spurred to run against Trump's renomination if the Democrats can incite such a move through the impeachment process.

"The one thing I do agree is you can't shame this guy, you can't embarrass him," Lichtman continued. "Allegations mean nothing. You've got to strike at his brand and his power. And the only way to do that is the proper constitutional procedure of impeachment."

But Pelosi continues to appear reluctant to pursue any impeachment process against Trump. Speaking in San Francisco just hours after Mueller's statement, Pelosi said, "you don't bring an impeachment unless you have all the facts." The California Democrat has long pushed back against factions of the party demanding impeachment, perhaps taking note of the 2018 midterm election victories and a demand from some to move on from impeachment talk.