On Thursday, President Donald Trump went nuclear on Democrats, slamming them as “liars!” for rushing to impeach him and then holding up the articles of impeachment. He went on to call for a primary challenge to House Speaker Nancy Pelosi.
“The Radical Left, Do Nothing Democrats said they wanted to RUSH everything through to the Senate because ‘President Trump is a threat to National Security’ (they are vicious, will say anything!), but now they don’t want to go fast anymore, they want to go very slowly. Liars!” he tweeted.
The Radical Left, Do Nothing Democrats said they wanted to RUSH everything through to the Senate because “President Trump is a threat to National Security” (they are vicious, will say anything!), but now they don’t want to go fast anymore, they want to go very slowly. Liars!
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) December 26, 2019
Indeed, House Democrats rushed to impeach Trump, warning that the president had welcomed foreign interference in the 2020 election and was, therefore, a national security threat. Yet after a majority of representatives voted to impeach the president, Pelosi decided not to send the articles of impeachment over to the Senate. Trump’s outrage over this duplicity is quite understandable.
The president went on to attack Pelosi personally.
“Nancy Pelosi’s District in California has rapidly become one of the worst anywhere in the U.S. when it come[s] to the homeless & crime. It has gotten so bad, so fast – she has lost total control and, along with her equally incompetent governor, Gavin Newsom, it is a very sad sight!” he tweeted. “Crazy Nancy should clean up her filthy dirty District & help the homeless there. A primary for N?”
“Nancy Pelosi has no leverage over the Senate. Mitch McConnell did not nose his way into the impeachment process in the House, and she has no standing in the Senate.” Brad Blakeman. Crazy Nancy should clean up her filthy dirty District & help the homeless there. A primary for N?
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) December 26, 2019
Pelosi has long proven herself a cunning political operator, but her decision to cave to her party’s base on impeachment was arguably a colossal misstep. She had long resisted the process, insisting that any impeachment must be “compelling and overwhelmingly bipartisan.” Yet this impeachment push has proven extremely partisan — it did not win one Republican vote and three Democrats voted against at least one article — and is based on evidence that can be interpreted in many different ways.
It is more than fair for Trump to attack Democrats for rushing impeachment and then stalling at the last moment.
Follow Tyler O’Neil, the author of this article, on Twitter at @Tyler2ONeil.
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