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This day has been coming since Donald Trump’s inauguration day. Democrats are finally getting their dearest wish since they were able to retake the House of Representatives in the 2018 midterm elections – the impeachment of the president.
Who said this had been a long time coming? No less than Nancy Pelosi admitted that impeachment had been in process for the last “22 months.”
Pay no attention to the loose dentures behind the curtain. The Democrats have been looking for an excuse to impeach Donald Trump since his first moments in office. They really thought they could get him with his tax records. It’s taking too long. They really thought that the Mueller Report would have the goods. That ended up being a huge fail. And then they really thought that the Ukraine call would do it. The single greatest power move that Trump made in the Ukraine investigation was releasing the transcript of the call without the Democrats having to go to court for it. When there was no provable quid pro quo, the Democrats said, “damn the torpedoes, full speed ahead!” The hard left base was fully agitated and Nancy Pelosi had to give in.
So after hours and hours and HOURS of speechifying and grandstanding on the House floor, here we are, with a supposedly historic impeachment vote.
#BREAKING: The House passes Article I – Abuse of Power 230-197
Watch now: https://t.co/Y5lCHABbWG pic.twitter.com/ehKatjUj7n
— CSPAN (@cspan) December 19, 2019
.@SpeakerPelosi announces the House passes Article II – Obstruction of Congress, 229-198 #Impeachment
WATCH full video: https://t.co/Y5lCHABbWG pic.twitter.com/HM6DvT8yIh
— CSPAN (@cspan) December 19, 2019
And the American people said…. meh. This doesn’t really matter to us.
Now, it matters in Washington. Donald Trump’s letter to Nancy Pelosi yesterday proves that he knows that this matters, and he is righteously angry about impeachment. And he is right – this process is being used for punitive purposes, and everyone knows it. We know it because the president hasn’t been charged with an actual crime in these articles of impeachment! We’ve hashed over this in previous posts – “abuse of power” is too broad and can apply to any president in their turn, and “obstruction of Congress” is NOT A THING without actual “obstruction of justice” to go with it. These charges are a joke, especially after all the “quid pro quo” and “bribery” talk. Which is exactly why the American people are not taking this seriously, and impeachment has lost serious steam in the polls.
And what’s more, Donald Trump is either staying steady or actually rising in the polls himself.
The end result was a foregone conclusion the second Nancy Pelosi got her hands back on the speaker’s gavel. However, she could not keep her caucus completely in line. Two Democrats voted against article one, and three Democrats voted against article two. The real surprise in voting tonight was that Hawaii Representative Tulsi Gabbard – who is running for president, and not for reelection to her House seat – voted “present.” This might be a move to raise her campaign’s profile. If so, it’s effective.
Dem HI Rep Gabbard on her “present” vote on impeachment: I could not in good conscience vote for impeachment because removal of a sitting President must not be the culmination of a partisan process, fueled by tribal animosities that have so gravely divided our country.
— Chad Pergram (@ChadPergram) December 19, 2019
What happens now? Well, we shall have to see, because there are rumors swirling that the House might sit on the articles of impeachment, even though that stands completely at odds with their whole “Trump is a menace to our democracy and needs to be removed immediately so we can’t wait for an election” talking point. And of course, the Senate Democrats want the Senate Republicans to, as Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell put it, the “homework” of the House Democrats and call multiple witnesses. In short, the Democrats’ case is looking very weak to the American people, and there is no way that the GOP-controlled Senate convicts him. In the meantime, the president held a rally in Michigan tonight, and is fundraising like mad off the impeachment vote.
President Donald Trump might have been impeached tonight, but his 2020 reelection chances just got a whole lot higher.
Featured image via Pixabay, cropped, Pixabay license
Rdm says: If tulsi could not in good conscience vote for it, then she should have voted against it, not taken the coward’s way out with voting ‘present’
GWB says: The Democrats have been looking for an excuse to impeach Donald Trump since his first moments in office.
Well, no, not really. They’ve been literally looking to impeach him since the day after the election.
releasing the transcript of the call without the Democrats having to go to court for it
Which should put paid to the concept of “obstructing Congress”. But it won’t.
this process is being used for punitive purposes
I think you mean “political” or “partisan political” purposes. Impeachment certainly should be punitive! (Of course, it should have something to be punitive about! This does not.)
“obstruction of Congress” is NOT A THING
I keep pointing out that the veto power means it is actually the President’s job to “obstruct Congress”.
Hawaii Representative Tulsi Gabbard … voted “present.”
Wow. So she’s definitely going for the not-totally-bat-guano-insane demographic among the Dems.
The only thing that really concerns me in the Senate is that McConnell not allow any bulls**t votes. No citing “Scottish law”. No even voting “present”. You’ve seen the case the House presented – now vote Yea or Nay, via a roll call vote.
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