Trump’s First Impeachment Win

The Atlantic ^ | October 31, 2019 | Russell Berman

[2ndDivisionVet]

The House’s resolution should have been the easiest for Republicans to go along with. None of them did.

So this is how the impeachment of President Donald Trump is going to go.

The House this morning cast its first vote in a process that could lead to just the third Senate impeachment trial of a president in U.S. history. When Speaker Nancy Pelosi announced plans for the vote earlier this week, there was at least some promise of drama: Which House Democrats would defect? How many Republicans might defy Trump to back a formal impeachment inquiry that a few of them had signaled their support for?

After all, this was a vote that Republicans and the White House had been demanding for weeks—an official resolution that took the ambiguity and the secrecy out of the closed-door process Democrats had been conducting, a means of forcing every lawmaker to go on record in support of or in opposition to the impeachment inquiry. Pelosi, who had resisted holding such a vote for more than a month, had given in.

Yet when lawmakers gathered in the House chamber this morning, the actual tally turned out to be like so many others in Congress: party-line and partisan, a mere formality. Not a single House Republican voted with Democrats to affirm the impeachment. Not Representative Mark Amodei of Nevada, who had briefly backed the inquiry in the early going. Or Representative Will Hurd of Texas, the ex-CIA officer who earlier this month called Trump’s demand that Ukraine investigate former Vice President Joe Biden “terrible.” Or even Representative Francis Rooney of Florida, who had voiced his openness to impeachment and then promptly announced his retirement from Congress.

[IrishBrigade]

‘It’s an exercise in perception.’

in politics, perception is everything...

[Ken H]

“They need about 3% of otherwise Trump voters to withhold their votes.
Getting Trump labeled “impeached” is enough to achieve that.”

>>>>>>>>>>

Peddle your defeatism somewhere else.

[Brown Deer]

buried deep in the article:

Two Democrats voted against it: Representative Jeff Van Drew of New Jersey and Collin Peterson of Minnesota...

So, not only did ZERO Republicans vote for it, but some Democrats voted AGAINST this Halloween witch hunt.

In a statement after the vote, Van Drew said:

"Today, I voted Nay on H.Res. 660. Without bipartisan support I believe this inquiry will further divide the country tearing it apart at the seams and will ultimately fail in the Senate. However, now that the vote has taken place and we are moving forward I will be making a judgement call based on all the evidence presented by these investigations. My hope is that we are still able to get some work done to help the American people like infrastructure, veteran’s benefits, environmental protections, immigration reform, reducing prescription drug cost, and strengthening Social Security.”

[MeneMeneTekelUpharsin]

Well, that’s what I meant. They voted for the inquiry. Sorry....It’s still stupid. There is no reason...

[trebb]

No they didn’t - they voted for the closed door “investigations” they’ve already been doing.

[Elsie]

Enough 'inquiry' already!

Get on with IMPEACHMENT!!

(Unless you ain't GOT nuthin'!)

[LS]

That is the second best option. Always a chance of something going wrong in a trial.

[Syncro]

Yes

The Deep State is desperate.

Ironic how much they rely on quid quo pro to siphon off money.

They will protect their cash cows at all costs.

[MIA_eccl1212]

this was a vote that Republicans and the White House had been demanding for weeks—an official resolution

---

false statement.

conservatives wanted an agreement which is NOT the same as a resolution. resolutions are technically NOT binding. They also wanted parity on all elements of investigation and interviewing of so called witnesses... and full participation continuously for the executive branch lawyers etc...