The boy who cried wolf was right on one occasion!

One line I'm seeing a lot is that the Democrats would use any excuse at all to impeach Trump--and for that reason alone, we should dismiss any articles of impeachment that they might propose.

Strictly speaking this isn't logical. Even the boy who cried wolf was right on one occasion, and this could be one of those cases. Poisoning the well remains a fallacy, even--especially--when it's really fun to do so.

But what's more, it's just not true that the Democrats would bite on anything. The Mueller investigation was widely expected to produce an impeachment, and it didn't. The constant, flagrant violations of the Emoluments Clause should likewise have been a cause for impeachment long ago--one that Republicans, as the party supposedly dedicated to strict constitutionalism, should have strongly supported. Neither of these went anywhere.

Mueller-related impeachment foundered on the lack of clear evidence of collusion with a foreign power to influence our elections. Meanwhile the opening bid in this scandal is exactly the clear evidence that Mueller lacked. That's why it's different this time. More investigation is needed, not to reach the point at which the evidence is sufficient for impeachment, but to understand how deep the corruption goes.