President Donald Trump told supporters at a campaign rally in Battle Creek, Mich., Wednesday evening that Democrats were on a political “suicide march” following their votes earlier in the day to impeach him.
As votes were being tallied back on Capitol Hill, the president vowed to make Democrats pay at the ballot box next November, noting that their decision will come back to haunt many of them.
“This lawless, partisan impeachment is a political suicide march for the Democratic Party,” Trump said defiantly, noting his rise in approval ratings. “Have you seen my polls in the last four weeks?”
“It doesn’t really feel like we’re being impeached,” the president said, feeding off the crowd’s energy, many of whom who endured chilling temperatures camping outside the venue for 24 hours or more so they could get inside.
On Wednesday, President Trump became only the third president in history to be impeached. Republican leaders in the Senate, however, have said there is no chance that he’ll be convicted on any charges and removed from office.
“Every single Republican voted for us,” Trump told the audience, reacting to his impeachment in real time.
“So we had 198. … We didn’t lose one Republican vote. Every single Republican voted for us? Wow. We didn’t lose one Republican vote. We have a great Republican Party. We have to take back the House” next year, he added.
“The Democrats always stick together Think of it: Three Democrats went over to our side. That’s unheard of,” Trump said, noting that three Democrats voted against impeachment.
A fourth, Rep. Tulsi Gabbard of Hawaii, who is running for her party’s 2020 presidential nomination, voted “present.”
Recent polling showed support for impeaching the president in swing states had fallen dramatically in recent weeks.