Republicans continue to craft new defenses to try and protect Donald Trump from impeachment, and now have come up with maybe the most creative one yet: impeaching Trump in December will ruin Christmas.
It’s unclear whether this new attack was sent around by the message masters at the White House. However, two top Trump allies — former House Speaker Newt Gingrich and former Acting Attorney General Matthew Whitaker — both made the attack on Fox News, the GOP’s favorite outlet for pushing propaganda.
“It is really a sad day for America. It is, I think, going to hurt people’s Christmas experience because this is going to be playing in the background. Instead of Bing Crosby’s Christmas album, we’re going to have impeachment,” Whitaker said on Fox News, according to Bloomberg News’ Josh Wingrove.
Gingrich, for his part, said on Fox News Friday morning, “This whole thing is a joke.”
“And really, on the eve of Christmas it is really sad to see the dishonesty and the partisanship that the House Democrats are displaying,” Gingrich said.
But Gingrich was speaker of the House when former President Bill Clinton was impeached. And Republicans held their vote to approve articles of impeachment on Dec. 19 — quite near the “eve of Christmas,” as Gingrich said Friday morning.
In fact, many Republicans like Gingrich — who voted to impeach Clinton — are now vehemently opposed to impeaching Trump.
For example, Rep. Steve Chabot (R-OH) voted to impeach Clinton, saying at the time, “What message are we sending to the youth of America if we abdicate our constitutional duty and condone perjury, obstruction of justice and abuse of power by the President of the United States?”
Now, even though Trump has been accused of some of those very same crimes, Chabot does not support impeachment.
“Never in my years of public service have I seen an American president be subjected to these kinds of hyperbolic claims, misleading accusations and partisan attacks. I need your help, friend. Can you give $50, $100 or $200 to stop impeachment?” Chabot wrote in a fundraising plea in September.
For now, it’s unclear when a vote will be held on articles of impeachment — which House Speaker Nancy Pelosi announced on Thursday that she wants Congress to draft.
It’s possible the vote happens before the end of December.
Published with permission of The American Independent Foundation.
