Good Friday morning. I'm Anna Palmer and welcome to your Politico Playbook Audio Briefing,

sponsored by Blue Cross Blue Shield Association. If President Donald Trump has succeeded in anything

over the last month or so, it's this. He has dragged House Democrats into his vortex of chaos,

forcing them to wage momentary political battles without any reasonable evidence

that they'll succeed in the long term. It's a method he's employed with varied success as he hops

from crisis to crisis, considering only the smallest increment of time in front of him while he

runs out the clock on the Democrats' various efforts to soften him up for the 2020 election.

Case in point, Speaker Nancy Pelosi is relying on court cases and oversight to keep her caucus

from an all-out impeachment push, a strategy that might work in the moment, but is far from

certain to keep the party's left flank at bay. In fact, if the courts unleash a cash of especially damning documents,

impeachment might become more likely rather than less. Conventional wisdom in Washington holds

that both sides are hoping next year's election will arrive before that happens. The first

Democratic debate is in June. Can't do it after that happens.

The government funding and debt ceiling debate will be in September, no time then. Then comes

Thanksgiving and the year-end rush before 2020. And Democrats wouldn't dare impeach Trump in 2020,

most people think. But does conventional wisdom even hold anymore?

Maybe Democrats will do it after all.

Although Pelosi got some breathing room this week from her caucus,

it's hard to tell how long that will last.

Before the Senate left for the Memorial Day recess,

it cleared a disaster relief package,

which the House immediately said it would pass and send to the president for his signature.

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