I agree Xavier, Democrats are losing an opportunity on strategy from my perspective too and I know we don't really agree on the politics of some of this stuff.
First problem, self imposed deadlines. In theory this is to avoid weakening Senate Democrats running for the nomination if this runs into 2020, which makes sense. In practice, it gives Trump a position to stall until rank and file gets fidgety about their deadline and then Democrats have a decision to make. If this is about taking a principled stand and holding the executive branch to account through their Constitutionally available powers, they may have to blow their cover that this was not politically motivated because they need to wrap it up so they can get back to campaigning. It will look bad. The deadlines create a pace of proceedings and hearings and testimony that people can't keep up with. Since we know ahead of time that actual removal is probably pretty unlikely, then your goal at the very least is to swing voters away from Trump through a damning impeachment process. The rush kind of makes it look like a hit job rather than justice. You aren't doing this to persuade Republicans in Congress, you're doing it to persuade your middle of the road voters. If they screw it up, they'll galvanize support rather than erode it.
Part of the problem for the democrats too, I think, is the seemingly endless amount of scandal/complaints about Trump's supposedly impeachable behavior from day 1. While it could be 100% true on all counts, it seems to be a boy who cried wolf scenario and gives the Republicans ammo to say "they've been looking for something for forever". When the Mueller report comes and goes with no follow up and then this Ukraine thing gets literally dumped into their lap as such an obvious boneheaded move then people wonder if the Mueller report really was done for purely political purposes, that it went away quietly because they found nothing, and that they are now just continuing on to the next thing. Because if the opposite is true and they didn't pursue obvious crimes detailed in the report, that would make them derelict of duty and waiting for an obvious political opportunity to take advantage.
I dunno, I'm trying to follow, have watched some testimony but the details of the charges are almost so banal that I can't keep my attention. I want the good ol' days where we argued over POTUS getting sucked off in the Oval Office.
