SPLIT-SCREEN MOMENT In an extraordinary split-screen moment, House members cast votes to impeach US President Donald Trump (right) in Washington on Wednesday as he rails against his enemies and critics “consumed by hatred” at a rally of his most ardent supporters in Battle Creek, Michigan. —PHOTOS BY AFP AND AP
BATTLE CREEK, MICHIGAN—US President Donald Trump likes a fight and he likes a show and on Wednesday with impeachment voted right at the moment he was addressing a campaign rally hundreds of miles away in Michigan—he got both things on steroids.
By a twist of fate, a long-planned Trump rally in the small city of Battle Creek not only coincided with the day of his impeachment back in Washington.
The historic vote in the House of Representatives actually took place as the US president spoke to around 7,000 of his most die-hard supporters—blue-collar voters dressed in work boots and camouflage hunting gear.
“We want Trump! We want Trump!” they chanted before he even came out.
For a president itching to vent his anger against rival Democrats, against the media and every other of the many forces he claims are conspiring against him, what could have been better?
Trump did not resemble a politician on the ropes.
He resembled typical high-energy, angry, joking, conspiracy-minded Trump—only angrier.
“The Democrats are declaring their deep hatred and disdain for the American voter,” Trump said to boos and cheers. “They’ve been trying to impeach me from day one. They’ve been trying to impeach me from before I ran.”
“Four more years! Four more years!” the crowd chanted back.
Abuse of power, obstruction
The Democratic-led House made the 73-year-old Republican businessman and 45th US president only the third president in US history subjected to the humiliation of impeachment.
After a marathon 10-hour debate, lawmakers voted 230-197 to impeach him for abuse of power, by pressuring Ukraine’s president to investigate his potential White House challenger Joe Biden, and for obstructing the congressional probe into his dealings with Kiev.
Democrats said they had “no choice” but to formally charge Trump, whose impeachment drove a spike ever deeper into the US political divide.
“What is at risk here is the very idea of America,” said Adam Schiff, the lawmaker who led the impeachment inquiry, ahead of the vote.
The day of dramatic and often angry oratory saw both sides delving deep into constitutional law, citing the country’s hallowed founders Benjamin Franklin or Alexander Hamilton, as outside Congress protesters clamored for impeachment.
Republicans claimed Trump was treated more unfairly than witches tried in the 17th century—or even than Jesus Christ.
“Pontius Pilate gave Jesus the opportunity to face his accusers. During that sham trial, Pontius Pilate afforded more rights to Jesus than the Democrats afforded this president and this process,” said Georgia Republican Barry Loudermilk.
“Voters will never forget that Democrats have been triggered into impeaching the president, because they don’t like him, and they don’t like us,” charged Republican Matt Gaetz.
The House vote came four months after a whistleblower blew open the scandal of Trump pressuring Ukraine’s president to investigate Biden.
Friendlier territory
Despite testimony from 17 officials that Trump leveraged his office for political gain, the president maintained his innocence throughout the impeachment inquiry—denouncing it as an “attempted coup” and an “assault on America.”
Trump spent the first part of the day holed up at the White House, tweeting in frustration.
But on Wednesday night, the president was on friendlier territory. Far from the political pain in Washington, Trump was in his happy place.
The crowd laughed at his jokes. They booed when he told them to boo. They cheered at his every boast.
“I’d rather be here. These rallies are great,” he told the crowd. “You are inspiring.”
Trump will now stand trial in the Senate, where his Republicans hold a solid majority and are expected to exonerate him.
He reckons that impeachment will help him to a second term next year, creating a wave of outrage on the right capable of sweeping away those hated opponents on the left.
White House spokesperson Stephanie Grisham blasted the House vote as “one of the most shameful political episodes in the history of our nation,” saying Trump “is prepared for the next steps” and confident that he will be fully exonerated.
Neither of the two previous presidents impeached since 1789, Andrew Johnson in 1868 and Bill Clinton in 1998, was convicted in the Senate, and both held onto their jobs.
Although national polls show consistently that well over half the country disapproves of him, Trump is counting on his core base to win the key states in the electoral college system—like Michigan.
Long list of enemiesOn Wednesday, he showed how that message is being honed post-impeachment.
He touted the strong economy and flag-waving themes about military spending. But more than anything, he whipped up the crowd with his dark vision of conspirators and shadowy forces seeking to put down ordinary Americans.
That ever-lengthening list of enemies now runs through every speech. And on Wednesday, he ticked them all off.
There was “shifty Schiff,” the Democratic impeachment point man, Adam Schiff.
There was “crooked Hillary,” or Hillary Clinton whom he beat in the 2016 presidential election and has kept attacking ever since.
There were the “fakers,” meaning the journalists covering his event.
There were “those characters,” the Democratic candidates seeking to take him on in 2020.
There was even a “real slob,” referring to a woman who unfurled a protest sign in the arena telling Trump, “You’re fired.”
“Get her out,” he intoned threateningly. The crowd jeered the woman and chanted “USA! USA!”
“I’m not worried,” Trump said to the crowd. “I don’t know about you but I’m having a good time.”
Rewriting trade dealOne day after impeaching him, the House is expected to overwhelmingly pass one of his signature priorities, a rewrite of the 25-year-old free trade agreement he blames for shipping US manufacturing jobs to Mexico.
A bill implementing terms of the United States-Mexico-Canada Agreement is expected to pass on Thursday with bipartisan support after Speaker Nancy Pelosi and her colleagues won key concessions from an administration anxious to pass the trade deal before next year’s election season makes that task more difficult.
Trump made tearing up the North American Free Trade Agreement a hallmark of his presidential run in 2016 as he tried to win over working-class voters in states such as Michigan, Ohio, Wisconsin and Pennsylvania.