This was published 4 years ago
Trump, at rally, rages and rails as impeachment vote happens
By Eli Stokols
Battle Creek: At 8.25pm on Wednesday, US time, just as a Democratic House majority made Donald J. Trump the third president ever to be impeached, for abuse of power, he was at a rally here in Michigan, riffing about Space Force, nuclear submarines, "Crooked" Hillary Clinton and more - delivering his standard campaign fare in an effort to convince the country, and perhaps himself, that nothing had changed.
"By the way, it doesn't really feel like we're being impeached," Trump said upon taking the stage. "The country is doing better than ever before. We did nothing wrong. We did nothing wrong and we have tremendous support in the Republican Party like we've never had before."
President Donald Trump speaks at a campaign rally in Battle Creek, Michigan, as the vote in the House was underway.Credit: AP
At 8.43pm, as the House passed a second article of impeachment, for obstruction of justice, Trump was mocking Democratic presidential candidate Pete Buttigieg for his "unpronounceable name" and comparing him to cartoon character "Alfred E Neuman."
He exulted when he got the impeachment tallies: "We didn't lose one Republican vote." The crowd cheered.
Yet after nearly 30 minutes of touting his administration's accomplishments, mocking Clinton and other past and current rivals, and generally avoiding the subject, Trump's focus - and mood - shifted somewhat, as avoidance gave way to anger over what he called an "illegal and unconstitutional" impeachment.
"Through their depraved actions today, crazy Nancy Pelosi's House Democrats have branded themselves with an eternal mark of shame," Trump said. "And it really is - it's a disgrace, Democrats. Lawmakers do not believe you have the right to select your own president."
Among his tweets, a claim that Democrats were after voters, not him.
Planned weeks ago, the "Merry Christmas" rally wasn't some savvy programming decision by the reality TV star turned politician to divert attention from the ignominy of impeachment. Michigan, a state that he won in 2016 by just 10,700 votes, is once again critical to his reelection bid.
But the confluence of congressional and campaign schedules delivered a historic moment: a deeply polarising president, on the ground in a swing state, responding almost immediately to the House impeachment vote, trying to turn his rebuke into a badge of honour and to convince his most ardent supporters that he - and they - are victims of deep injustice.
The Merry Christmas rally in Michigan provided an opportunity for Trump to vent and try to convince swinging voters.Credit: AP
"The do-nothing Democrats - and they are do nothing - all they want to do is focus on this," Trump said. "What they could be doing are declaring their deep hatred and disdain for the American voter. This lawless partisan witch hunt is a political suicide march for the Democrat Party."
"They're the ones who should be impeached, every one of them," Trump said.
Trump's argument, honed in hundreds of vitriolic tweets and previewed on Tuesday in a furiously worded six-page letter to Pelosi, is likely to intensify the emotions of partisans and, more importantly - and to help crystallise for swing voters the ever-looming question of whether he deserves four more years in the White House.
"Hate is usually a greater driver for voters than like," said Saul Anuzis, a former chairman of the Michigan Republican Party. "That's good for Democratic intensity, but I think the impeachment hearings have backfired [against them]. Mainstream voters just don't like the process."
Although a weekend Fox News poll showed 50 per cent of Americans supported Trump's impeachment and removal from office, surveys in critical swing states such as Michigan - those most likely to determine who wins and loses next November - have shown support for impeachment below the national average.
That explains why Trump boasted on Friday, shortly after the Democratic-led House Judiciary Committee approved the two articles of impeachment on a strict party line, that impeachment proceedings have been "very good for me politically."
Prior to arriving in Michigan, Trump spent the day out of sight at the White House, venting on Twitter about the impeachment debate on the House floor (he sent 45 tweets before noon). He did not address reporters on the South Lawn, as he often does, before departing in Marine One for his trip to western Michigan.
Trump's reelection campaign has issued endless appeals based on impeachment, warning darkly against Democratic perfidy against the president. It's produced an uptick in online fundraising and political enthusiasm since the inquiry began in September.
As lawmakers in Washington continued with their speech-making as the hours ticked down to the evening vote, thousands of red-hatted Michiganders withstood the -5 degree weather in a line snaking around the Kellogg Arena.
Some wore black T-shirts emblazoned with three words: "Read the Transcript," the President's refrain to falsely suggest that the official notes of his July 25 phone call with Ukraine's President, the spark for the impeachment process, absolve him of any wrongdoing.
In the call, he asked for "a favour" - that Ukraine investigate his political rival, even as he'd frozen military aid to the nation as it faces Russian aggression. Two men awaiting their security screenings conversed about Trump's most outspoken Republican defenders in Congress, suggesting that representatives Jim Jordan, of Ohio, and Matt Gaetz, of Florida, would make a good presidential ticket in 2024. Inside the arena, the warm-up playlist included a new song, the R.E.M. hit Everybody Hurts.
"I'm disillusioned and I'm sad that they did this to him - he's a good man, he didn't need this," said Connie Graff, a supporter from Kalamazoo who arrived four hours early for the rally, which she described as her "Christmas present".
Cindy Ludwig, a supporter from Southfield, said of Democrats, "They have no right to do this to him. He's doing a great job and he needs to continue on. There is no proof."
Ludwig and her husband, Paul, echoed a Republican talking point used repeatedly during the daylong House debate on impeachment: that Democrats have been determined to pursue impeachment for three years. They pointed to statements by Michigan Congresswoman Rashida Tlaib and other Democrats who expressed support for impeaching Trump long before his backstage dealings with Ukraine prompted an actual inquiry.
Early in his rally, before the House vote was in, Trump told the crowd, "They've been trying to impeach me since I won."
A visibly rattled US President Donald Trump raved and ranted at a rally in Battle Creek, Michigan, while the impeachment vote was taking place.Credit: AP
Analysts say Trump's venting rage may prove cathartic for him and his most ardent fans, but isn't necessarily helpful if the goal is to broaden his base for 2020.
"There's something confrontational about Trump's rallies that he loves, and it produces the strongest reaction from his base," said Peter Hart, a Democratic pollster. "But if I were going into Michigan, I'd choose to tell the economic story, not to fixate on the personal grievances he's going to have on that day.
"He can have as many rallies as he wants," Hart continued. "Leaving aside the organisational benefits, he's just reinforcing all the things the voters in the middle don't like about him."
Trump rallies, like most of his tweets, have always been primarily about revving up his base. Battle Creek sits in Calhoun County in southwestern Michigan. Its unemployment rate is higher than the national average, and its average household income is lower.
Barack Obama won the county by a percentage point and a half in 2012, four years before Trump won it by 12 percentage points.
Los Angeles Times