Democrat presidential candidate Tulsi Gabbard wrote in an op-ed published in Fortune magazine that the Democrats’ failed attempt to impeach Trump has almost certainly secured his second term in office as president.
“Donald Trump must be defeated: Another four years of him as president would be a disaster,” Gabbard wrote. “Unfortunately, as I warned, the Democrats’ hyper-partisan impeachment process has increased the likelihood that he will be re-elected. After Trump’s acquittal in the Senate, his approval rating reached the highest levels since he took office. And the risk that he will win in November is much greater than before.”
Gabbard, 38, who serves as U.S. representative for Hawaii’s 2nd District and is running for the presidency, said that many Democrat lawmakers acted out of emotion, instead of out of thoughtfulness and foresight, in their zeal to impeach the president.
She also refuted her fellow party members’ argument that impeaching Trump would at least stain his reputation, saying he will go down as the third president facing an impeachment trial—an argument she dismisses as “cold comfort.”
“While it may warm the heart of a self-serving politician eager for publicity and donations,” she said, “a footnote in future history books will do nothing to comfort our children and our children’s children—who will have to live with the disastrous consequences of another four years of Trump in the White House.
Trump was formally charged on Dec. 18 by the Democrat-majority House on two articles of impeachment (pdf)—abuse of power and obstruction of Congress. No House Republicans voted in favor of the articles, and a small number of Democrats broke with their party to vote against one or both articles. Notably, Gabbard was one of them, voting “present” in protest of the House-led effort, which she called a “partisan endeavor.”
Trump repeatedly said he didn’t do anything wrong, and earlier agreed with Gabbard in that House Democrats were playing politics.
In the Senate, the only Republican to vote in favor of one of the charges, abuse of power, was Sen. Mitt Romney (R-Utah).
Senate Majority leader Mitch McConnell said at a press conference in Washington after the acquittal that the effort was “a political loser” for Democrats. “They initiated it. They thought this was a great idea. And at least for the short term, it has been a colossal political mistake.”
He added that the failed effort to remove Trump from office leaves Republican candidates in a better place ahead of the November elections.
No president has ever been removed as a direct result of impeachment. Richard Nixon resigned before he could be removed. Andrew Johnson and Bill Clinton were both impeached by the House but not convicted in the Senate.
Epoch Times reporters Mimi Nguyen Ly and Jack Phillips contributed to this report