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Year after Trump impeachment vote, town believes their GOP congressman ‘stabbed us all in the back’
The Mercury News ^ | January 13, 2022 | Julia Prodis Sulek

Posted on 01/19/2022 7:14:28 AM PST by fluorescence

HANFORD,Calif. It’s been a year now, but in this Central Valley farm town, like the nation, the divide has only grown.

Todd Cotta was working in his gun shop when a customer came in with the news about David Valadao, the Republican congressman for whom Cotta had campaigned across Kings County and beyond just months before.

Bewildered, Cotta turned to his phone and tapped in a text message to a man he considered a friend.

“Hey David. Somebody’s spreading a nasty (rumor) that you voted to impeach Trump,” Cotta wrote. “I certainly hope that’s not true.”

Within seconds, Valadao responded.

“It’s true.”

The two haven’t talked since.

And, really, neither have the two sides of the country.

A year after President Donald Trump was impeached for a historic second time, few places better illustrate America’s lost middle ground.

Historians will look back to Jan. 6, 2021, when Trump supporters stormed the U.S. Capitol, as a day of infamy. But in Valadao’s hometown of Hanford, they point to Jan. 13, 2021, when, as local mechanic Joe Flower puts it, the local congressman “not only stabbed the president but stabbed us all in the back.”

Valadao was one of just 10 Republican House members — and the only one in California — who voted to impeach Trump for inciting the insurrection.

That decision put the 44-year-old dairy farmer and the other reviled Republicans in the crosshairs of Trump himself, who gloated after two of them announced last fall they would not seek re-election: “2 down, 8 to go!”

[snip]

His Facebook page is often littered with random comments from people still simmering over the vote.

“Time to retire and hand it over to a MAGA candidate,” one commenter posted last month. “You have zero chance because Trump supporters remember your impeachment vote.”

(Excerpt) Read more at mercurynews.com ...


TOPICS: California; State and Local
KEYWORDS: california; davidvaladao; j6; january6; joeflower; juliaprodissulek; mediawingofthednc; partisanmediashill; partisanmediashills; toddcotta; trumpimpeachment; valadao
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1 posted on 01/19/2022 7:14:28 AM PST by fluorescence
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To: fluorescence

Remember in November …


2 posted on 01/19/2022 7:20:51 AM PST by 11th_VA (I can still remember an America where dissent was the highest form of patriotism.)
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To: fluorescence

The Mercury News - this that a**wipe still around?


3 posted on 01/19/2022 7:20:53 AM PST by skeeter
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To: fluorescence

This guy is in Victor Davis Hanson’s district. VDH said he has no idea why Valadeo voted to impeach but the voters there are PISSED. He has zero shot at re-election. He’s going to get taken out in the primary if he doesn’t quit first.

and its currently 3 down 7 to go.


4 posted on 01/19/2022 7:21:05 AM PST by FLT-bird
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To: fluorescence

If the GOP takes back congress they should immediately impeach Joe Biden for failure to secure the border.

Once the Senate fails to remove, the GOP should impeach him again for financial crimes, hunter Biden etc.

Once the Senate fails to remove, the GOP should impeach him a third time just to make a point about what a joke the 2 impeachments against Trump were.


5 posted on 01/19/2022 7:22:11 AM PST by Pxzftrnqfrn
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To: FLT-bird

Yeah, the other 7 are masochists and are looking forward to being publicly humiliated.


6 posted on 01/19/2022 7:23:40 AM PST by McGavin999 (To shut down the border tell the administration the cartel is smuggling Ivermectin )
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To: fluorescence

Whatever their rationale, whatever their reasons, a person is ultimately judged by their actions These 10 Republican Congress members and Romney and Murkowski in the Senate have given notice that they are at best untrustworthy fools. They should not hold Federal office and should be ruthlessly purged.


7 posted on 01/19/2022 7:24:40 AM PST by allendale
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To: fluorescence

believes?


8 posted on 01/19/2022 7:26:03 AM PST by AndyJackson
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To: fluorescence

No guns, NO insurrection.


9 posted on 01/19/2022 7:26:55 AM PST by meatloaf
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To: Pxzftrnqfrn

Agree. Document the indictments with long, comprehensive hearings.


10 posted on 01/19/2022 7:27:52 AM PST by allendale
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To: 11th_VA

Remember in the PRIMARIES.


11 posted on 01/19/2022 7:31:25 AM PST by jdsteel ("A Republic, Madam, if you can keep it." Sorry Ben, looks like we blew it.)
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To: fluorescence

I think Jan 6 is only living in infamy in the minds of DC politicians and their people in the media. Notice how Nothing like this is Ever uttered about the riots that burnt down cities by Antics or BLM.


12 posted on 01/19/2022 7:34:46 AM PST by navymom1
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To: Pxzftrnqfrn

WHY? What good will that do and how much will it cost you and me? If we are going to spend money, spend it on making certain our votes can never be stolen through electoral fraud again!


13 posted on 01/19/2022 7:37:07 AM PST by navymom1
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To: allendale

If Biden is impeached I could see thr media not covering it and calling it political.


14 posted on 01/19/2022 7:38:12 AM PST by wiseprince (Me,)
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To: fluorescence

Gun shop owner, in the crosshairs - inflamitory language for liberals!


15 posted on 01/19/2022 7:42:18 AM PST by Fido969 (45 is Superman!)
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To: fluorescence
A year after President Donald Trump was impeached for a historic second time,

What is "historical" is how the Dems weaponized impeachment for political purposes using hoaxes as their basis for evidence.

16 posted on 01/19/2022 7:44:31 AM PST by 1Old Pro (Let's make crime illegal again!)
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To: 11th_VA

Here was Valvadao (Azores, Portugal) had to say on his vote:

“President Trump was, without question, a driving force in the catastrophic events that took place on January 6 by encouraging masses of rioters to incite violence on elected officials, staff members, and our representative democracy as a whole,” said Congressman Valadao. “Speaker Pelosi has thrown precedent and process out the window by turning what should be a thorough investigation into a rushed political stunt. I wish, more than anything, that we had more time to hold hearings to ensure due process. Unfortunately, Speaker Pelosi did not afford us that option. Based on the facts before me, I have to go with my gut and vote my conscience. I voted to impeach President Trump. His inciting rhetoric was un-American, abhorrent, and absolutely an impeachable offense. It’s time to put country over politics.”


17 posted on 01/19/2022 7:52:50 AM PST by silent majority rising
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To: 1Old Pro

If anything demonstrates low IQ, it’s “using hoaxes as their basis for evidence.”


18 posted on 01/19/2022 7:53:24 AM PST by reasonisfaith (What are the cosmological implications if the Resurrection of Christ is a true event in history?)
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To: fluorescence

145 House members voted for Liz Cheney in Feb. to lead them, away from MAGA.

We have a LOT of primarying to do.


19 posted on 01/19/2022 7:59:17 AM PST by Lurkinanloomin ( (Natural born citizens are born here of citizen parents)(Know Islam, No Peace-No Islam, Know Peace)
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To: silent majority rising

That sounds a lot like Mitt Romney’s message at the time, with a little CYA regarding Pelosi. If she rushed things through, then it wasn’t a valid “trial.”


20 posted on 01/19/2022 8:02:43 AM PST by gloryblaze
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