The Democrats hopes of “Never-Trump” Republicans joining their sinking impeachment ship have been washed away.
Even the anti-Trump fake Republicans have realized the impeachment efforts are just the Democrats’ latest attempt to overturn the 2016 elections.
But, thanks to Democrat control in the House, Donald Trump’s impeachment inquiry will move forward.
In breaking news yesterday, the U.S. House passed a resolution formalizing an impeachment inquiry against President Trump.
The final vote was 232-196 and almost entirely along party lines.
The only vote in favor of impeachment from the Republican side was anti-Trump Congressman and self-described “libertarian,” Justin Amash.
Amash took to social media to try and excuse his treasonous vote but was largely ignored by serious observers.
But surprisingly, there were two Democrats who voted against impeachment – Rep. Jeff Van Drew (D-NJ) and Rep. Collin Peterson (D-MN).
Jeff Van Drew’s 2nd district of New Jersey is the state’s largest and includes most of the southern part of the Garden State, which tends to vote more Republican than northern Jersey.
The 2nd district voted for Trump by 4.5 points over Hillary Clinton in 2016 and was represented by Republican Frank LoBiondo, who had served 11 terms before announcing his retirement in November 2017.
Van Drew previously told the New York Post, “I didn’t support the idea of doing this to begin with, so I can’t support a process that just further promulgates this.”
As for Collin Peterson, he is the dean of the Minnesota congressional delegation, serving since 1991.
His district is the Gopher State’s largest and most rural, and also tends to be the most conservative – aside from reelecting Peterson.
Trump carried Peterson’s district by nearly 31 percentage points in 2016, and Peterson could be facing a tough Republican challenger in 2020.
As one Republican consultant said, “A number of house districts just came into play in 2020,” referring to the Democrats from pro-Trump districts who voted with party leadership instead of their constituents.
While this vote in the House was largely procedural and the outcome pre-determined, for the majority of Americans who view impeachment as an illegitimate coup against a duly-elected President, the vote just confirms their greatest fears.
It sends a chilling signal that under Democrat control the rule of law will no longer exist and Americans would live in fear.
And secret, behind closed–doors prosecutions with no defense allowed and no due process would become the norm.
There is good reason why most coup attempts lead to violence and ultimately war.
It appears the Democrats are willing to take that gamble all because of their hatred of Donald Trump.