On Wednesday, House Democrats led by Speaker Nancy Pelosi finally accomplished what members of the party have been pushing for since even before Donald Trump was inaugurated: they successfully voted to impeach him, alleging that he is guilty of “abuse of power” and “obstruction of Congress.”
As the left-leaning mainstream media repeatedly told the American public, the moment is “historic.” But as Trump pointed out the morning after his inevitable impeachment, the Democrats’ actions are “historic” in a way they desperately wanted to avoid.
“I got Impeached last might without one Republican vote being cast with the Do Nothing Dems on their continuation of the greatest Witch Hunt in American history,” Trump tweeted early Thursday morning. “100% Republican Vote. That’s what people are talking about,” he wrote in another post. “The Republicans are united like never before!”
The impeachment of Trump is indeed “historic” because, unlike Bill Clinton, Trump was impeached without the other party casting a single vote in favor of it.
The first article of impeachment, “abuse of power,” passed Wednesday by a vote of 230–197–1. The only thing bipartisan about the vote was the opposition to it – two Democrats joining with the fully “united” Republicans to vote against it. In the end, 228 Democrats voted for it, while 2 Democrats joined all 195 Republicans to voted against it. The lone independent member of Congress voted for the article.
The second article of impeachment, “obstruction of Congress,” suffered another defection from the Democratic ranks. The final vote, 229–198–1, included three Democrats joining all 195 Republicans in opposition.
With both articles of impeachment passing with entirely partisan support and bipartisan opposition, Trump is now the first president to be impeached without a single vote in favor from his own party.
The impeachment of Bill Clinton on Dec. 19, 1998 – almost exactly 21 years earlier – included some Democratic votes in favor of it. Clinton was impeached for “perjury to a grand jury” by a final vote of 228–206, with 5 Democrats joining 223 Republicans in support, while 5 Republicans, 200 Democrats and the lone independent voted against it. The second article, “obstruction of justice,” passed 221–212, with 5 Democrats joining 216 Republicans in favor of it, while 12 Republicans joined the 199 Democrats and the independent member against the charge. Two other articles of impeachment (abuse of power and another perjury charge) against Clinton failed.
The only other president to be impeached is Democrat Andrew Johnson, who was easily impeached by the Republican-controlled House in 1868 by a vote of 126 to 47. The Democratic Party had only 47 seats in the House.
In his early morning Thursday tweets, Trump also noted that the Democrats are now considering withholding the impeachment articles, a gambit Democratic strategists have been floating over the last week as a way of maintaining political “leverage.”
“Now the Do Nothing Party want to Do Nothing with the Articles & not deliver them to the Senate, but it’s Senate’s call!” Trump wrote.
“‘The Senate shall set the time and place of the trial,'” Trump added. “If the Do Nothing Democrats decide, in their great wisdom, not to show up, they would lose by Default!”
The Democrats’ impeachment articles are expected to fail by a wide margin in the Senate, which requires a two-thirds majority, or 67 votes, for conviction and removal. Both Johnson and Clinton were ultimately spared of conviction by the Senate.
Related: Pelosi Considers Withholding Articles Of Impeachment From Senate. Here’s The Insane Reason Why.