Just hours before President Donald Trump took to the stage in Greenville, North Carolina and unleashed more racist vitriol against Rep. Ilhan Omar and other progressive members of Congress, 137 House Democrats joined a united Republican caucus on Wednesday to kill articles of impeachment that sought to hold the president accountable for sparking “fear and hatred of new Americans and people of color.”
The final vote in favor of tabling the impeachment resolution, introduced Tuesday by Rep. Al Green (D-Texas), was 332-95-1, with Rep. Peter DeFazio (D-Ore.) voting present.
Democrats’ decision to kill the impeachment articles as Trump continued his racist rampage against members of Congress Wednesday night represented yet another failure by the House majority to listen to grassroots demands and take meaningful action against the president.
“House Democrats are working with Republicans to avoid launching an impeachment inquiry. Let that sink in,” tweeted progressive advocacy group Indivisible. “A. Day. After. They. Condemned. Trump. For. Being. A. Racist.”
Ahead of Wednesday’s vote, Green told reporters that it is time for Congress to confront Trump’s bigotry.
“This president has demonstrated that he’s willing to yell ‘fire’ in a crowded theater,” said Green, “and we have seen what can happen to people when bigotry is allowed to have a free rein.”
After the articles of impeachment were tabled with the support of House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) and House Majority Leader Steny Hoyer (D-Md.), Trump celebrated the vote during his rally Wednesday night, just before his supporters erupted in racist “Send her back” chants against Omar.
The president made it a point to thank the Democrats who joined the House GOP to kill the resolution.
“Many of them voted for us,” Trump said. “The vote was a totally lopsided 332 to 95 to 1.”
Trump gloats over Wednesday's failed attempt to impeach him, thanks the Democrats who voted against his impeachment pic.twitter.com/pZNBX594wS
— Aaron Rupar (@atrupar) July 17, 2019
Following Trump’s North Carolina rally, Sen. Elizabeth Warren (D-Mass.)—a 2020 Democratic presidential candidate—said Democrats must go beyond merely calling out the president’s racism, as the House did Tuesday with a resolution condemning his attacks on Reps. Omar, Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-N.Y.), Rashida Tlaib (D-Mich.), and Ayanna Pressley (D-Mass.).
“This president is desperate. Calling out his racism, xenophobia, and misogyny is imperative,” Warren tweeted. “But he’s trying to divide us and distract from his own crimes, and from his deeply unpopular agenda of letting the wealthy and well-connected rip off the country. We must do more.”
“We must call out those who remain silent,” the senator added. “We must initiate impeachment proceedings to hold him accountable. And we must build an unstoppable grassroots movement that resoundingly defeats not just Trump, but complicit Republicans everywhere.”
We must call out those who remain silent. We must initiate impeachment proceedings to hold him accountable. And we must build an unstoppable grassroots movement that resoundingly defeats not just Trump, but complicit Republicans everywhere.
— Elizabeth Warren (@ewarren) July 18, 2019
Tlaib, one of the most outspoken supporters of impeaching Trump, tweeted Wednesday night, “It’s time, folks.”
“I voted to bring articles of impeachment against Donald Trump,” said Tlaib. “Ninety-five of my colleagues agreed with me! I won’t stop standing up for our country.”
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