Donald Trump’s impeachment has Republicans in complete disarray
Republicans like to decry Donald Trump’s impeachment as a partisan witch hunt, a desperate attempt by angry Democrats to overturn an election. Of course, the reality is that his impeachment should have happened some time ago and Democrats waited until they were absolutely sure the scandal was one serious enough for a plurality of the country to support impeachment. If you want evidence that the whole episode is nothing more than a smear campaign, just look at who voted for impeachment, they like to point out. They’ll probably even point out that two Democrats (Tulsi Gabbard included, who’s already sealed her reputation as being a Democrat in-name-only) did not vote to support Trump’s impeachment.
If this is nothing but a smear campaign, it seems that a number of Republicans clearly do have something to hide – with up to 25 of them seeking to retire in 2020. At best, they’re not too interested in creating a compelling argument for their case – just slim rationalizations for fellow Republicans to parrot. Also, it’s far from true that Democrats are the only ones pushing impeachment, as five-term congressman and former Freedom Caucus member Justin Amash, a former Republican turned independent, joined with Democrats to vote in favor of impeachment.
There’s also a yet unnamed Republican who also voted in favor of impeachment, even if it was only for a brief, embarrassing moment, while the vote was taking place and managed to light up social media. While House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy has gone so far to say there’s “bipartisan support against impeaching Trump,” they’ve also never really bothered to explain why this makes impeachment any less legitimate, as only five Democrats voted in favor for three out of four articles during President Clinton’s impeachment, and three of them later changed parties. If anything, the impeachment showed how the party is in complete disarray, as they run out of reasons for propping up Donald Trump.
James Sullivan is the assistant editor of Brain World Magazine and an advocate of science-based policy making