Washington Free Beacon founding editor Matthew Continetti said on Friday the Democratic House managers' handling of the Senate impeachment trial has been less about gaining Republican support than about "solidifying the left-wing base."
"What impeachment is really about is solidifying the left-wing base of the Democrats ahead of the 2020 election," Continetti said during Fox News's America's Newsroom.
Continetti claims House managers Reps. Adam Schiff (D., Calif.) and Jerry Nadler (D., N.Y.) have "actually unified the Republican conference" through their rhetoric, which has "shocked and offended" most moderate Republican senators.
"You've had Jerry Nadler say that the opening votes of the trial amounted to treason. And then you had Adam Schiff suggest that a failure to convict President Trump would call into question the legitimacy of the 2020 election," Continetti said. "This is not the language that will appeal even to independent or center-minded Republicans. It is meant for the resistance folks."
Continetti wrote in a column titled, "Nadler’s Folly," that if Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi (D., Calif.) had neglected to move to impeach Trump, it would have invited "a challenge from the left."