On Monday’s episode of “The Ben Shapiro Show,” the Daily Wire editor-in-chief talks about Congressman Jeff Van Drew, a New Jersey Democrat who plans on switching to the Republican Party amidst impeachment, and the Democratic Party’s reaction to his decision. Video and partial transcript below: 
Meanwhile, Representative Jeff Van Drew, who&#8217;s an anti-impeachment Democrat, is now going to switch parties. This demonstrates, again, that these Democrats are not quite as popular on this thing among independents as they say they are. 
According to <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2019/12/14/us/politics/jeff-van-drew-democrat-republican.html">The New York Times</a>: 
<blockquote>Representative Jeff Van Drew of New Jersey, a moderate Democrat who is among the party&#8217;s staunchest opponents of impeaching President Trump, told aides on Saturday that he is planning to switch parties and declare himself a Republican as soon as next week, just as the House is casting its historic vote on articles of impeachment.
At a White House meeting on Friday, Mr. Van Drew sought Mr. Trump&#8217;s blessing for the move, which could be critical to his ability to avoid a primary challenge next year, and the president urged him to make the jump, according to two Democrats and one Republican who spoke on the condition of anonymity because the talks were intended to be private.
Mr. Van Drew has spoken with senior advisers to Mr. Trump about announcing his switch at an event at the White House either immediately before or just after the House votes on two articles of impeachment, which is expected to happen on Wednesday, according to Republicans and Democrats.</blockquote>
Now typically, when a member of a big political party has switched, that&#8217;s been big news all the way back to Jim Jeffords switching parties, and the switch in control of the Senate of the United States back in the early 2000s. But this is obviously big news in the middle of an impeachment hearing. You have a guy who is a blue vote in a red district in New Jersey switching parties because he believes that he&#8217;s not gonna be able to win re-election if he supports the impeachment. 
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<blockquote>&#8230; the move would also provide a silver lining for Mr. Trump as he becomes the third president ever to be impeached &#8230;
The decision by Mr. Van Drew reflects the heavy political consequences hanging over next week&#8217;s impeachment vote, particularly for moderate Democrats in districts that supported Mr. Trump in 2016.</blockquote>
About 30 Democrats are sitting in districts that supported Trump, [and] Republicans are targeting those districts heavily, the impeachment vote could come back to haunt all of those people. Jerry Nadler, for his part leading the House Judiciary Committee, ripped into Van Drew, saying that the real reason he&#8217;s not doing this, the real reason he&#8217;s switching is not out of principle, it&#8217;s out of political fear. 
<blockquote>NADLER: He&#8217;s reacting to the public polling that shows he can&#8217;t get renominated in his electorate, his district is 24% to renominate him and 60% to nominate somebody else. To more of the point, this is not political. We should not be looking at those things. This is the defense of our democracy. Do we stay a democratic republic or do we turn into a tyranny? </blockquote>
What is fascinating here is that members of Van Drew’s own constituency — Michael Suleyman, the Atlantic County Democratic chairman, actually wrote a letter to Van Drew, saying [according to the Times] “I&#8217;m imploring you to vote in favor of impeachment,” and that “a ‘no’ vote on impeachment will suppress Democratic turnout down-ballot, which my organization cannot sustain.” 
In other words, if they tried this impeachment and it turns out to come to nothing, that could actually suppress the Democratic efforts to get out the vote. Everybody is so depressed — and it is interesting, the Democrats are, this early, playing the card that they almost expect Trump to win if he&#8217;s not impeached. That&#8217;s the only reason they put out there the preventative message that if Trump is elected, it&#8217;s illegitimate, because you actually expect that he&#8217;s going to win. 
Meanwhile in the Senate, Chuck Schumer is attempting to militate, but he has no power in the Senate, so it doesn&#8217;t really matter. 
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SHAPIRO: Dems Rip Democratic Congressman For His Impeachment Stance

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Democrats began to attack New Jersey Democratic Representative Jeff Van Drew – whose staff has started to resign – on Sunday after reports surfaced over the weekend that Van Drew was leaving the party and joining the Republican Party.
&#8220;I think Jeff Van Drew is making a serious mistake. I understand that he feels if he votes against impeachment, he&#8217;ll lose in a Democratic primary [and] he could,&#8221; Democratic Rep. Steve Cohen (TN) told CNN on Sunday. &#8220;But you know he got elected with Democratic votes under a Democratic banner which he ran under for 30 years or so. I think he was a senator and a mayor and a representative and all, and he got Democratic money including Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee money, and to turn and go to be a Republican, it&#8217;s kind of strange.&#8221;
&#8220;I&#8217;ve heard of rats jumping off a sinking ship, but very few of them jump onto a sinking ship,&#8221; Cohen continued. &#8220;The Republicans are in the minority, for his district. Instead of having a congressman who&#8217;s in the majority and he gets something done for his district, they&#8217;re gonna have a congressman in the minority who can&#8217;t get anything done. The lowest thing that there is in the Congress is somebody in the minority side who was a traitor to the majority.&#8221;
WATCH:
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Impeachment has broken the Democrat Party. 
Dem Rep. Steve Cohen calls Rep. Van Drew a “traitor” and a “rat” for opposing the Democrats’ impeachment sham. <a href="https://t.co/05xV0Rsa1S">pic.twitter.com/05xV0Rsa1S</a>
&mdash; Steve Guest (@SteveGuest) <a href="https://twitter.com/SteveGuest/status/1206371831340507136?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">December 16, 2019</a></blockquote>
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It was <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/breaking-democrat-congressman-leaves-party-over-impeachment-becomes-republican">reported</a> on Saturday that Van Drew was leaving the Democratic Party over  impeachment, which he said was tearing the country apart, and that he was joining the Republican Party after meeting with President Donald Trump.
CNN&#8217;s Manu Raju reported late on Sunday that at least five members of Van Drew&#8217;s staff resigned in protest over his decision to leave the Democratic Party.
&#8220;We greatly appreciate the opportunities that the Congressman has given us, and we are proud of the work we&#8217;ve done together on behalf of the people of New Jersey&#8217;s Second Congressional District,&#8221; the letter said. &#8220;Sadly, Congressman Van Drew&#8217;s decision to join the ranks of the Republican Party led by Donald Trump does not align with the values we brought to this job when we joined his office.&#8221;
&#8220;We greatly respect Congressman Van Drew and are deeply saddened and disappointed by his decision,&#8221; the letter concluded. &#8220;As such, we can no longer in good conscience continue our service in this Congressman’s employ.&#8221;
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Five of Jeff Van Drew’s staff members announced their resignation Sunday after the congressman privately indicated he would switch parties, saying they are “deeply saddened and disappointed” by the decision <a href="https://t.co/TnlbUakEp1">pic.twitter.com/TnlbUakEp1</a>
&mdash; Manu Raju (@mkraju) <a href="https://twitter.com/mkraju/status/1206371842593894401?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">December 16, 2019</a></blockquote>
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After news broke that Van Drew was switching parties, many online noted how significant a blow it was to House Speaker Nancy Pelosi.
Federalist co-founder Sean Davis tweeted: “Nancy Pelosi isn’t just hemorrhaging votes for her impeachment gambit, she’s now facing wholesale defections from the Democrat party because of its impeachment hysteria.”
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Nancy Pelosi isn&#39;t just hemorrhaging votes for her impeachment gambit, she&#39;s now facing wholesale defections from the Democrat party because of its impeachment hysteria. <a href="https://t.co/iWkH1bcous">https://t.co/iWkH1bcous</a>
&mdash; Sean Davis (@seanmdav) <a href="https://twitter.com/seanmdav/status/1205949015734575104?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">December 14, 2019</a></blockquote>
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House Judiciary Committee Ranking Member Doug Collins wrote on Twitter: &#8220;Chairman Nadler told us to consult our consciences before voting on impeachment articles, then seemingly dismisses Jeff Van Drew for doing just that. When your own party rejects your sham impeachment, you’re probably on the wrong side of history.&#8221;
Trump responded to the news by writing on Twitter: &#8220;Thank you for your honesty Jeff. All of the Democrats know you are right, but unlike you, they don’t have the &#8216;guts&#8217; to say so!&#8221;
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Thank you for your honesty Jeff. All of the Democrats know you are right, but unlike you, they don’t have the “guts” to say so! <a href="https://t.co/OUc46HUwPq">https://t.co/OUc46HUwPq</a>
&mdash; Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) <a href="https://twitter.com/realDonaldTrump/status/1206083025018277889?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">December 15, 2019</a></blockquote>
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Democrats Attack ‘Traitor’ ‘Rat’ Jeff Van Drew For Leaving Party, Staff Resigns

New Jersey Democratic Congressman Jeff Van Drew, who has strongly opposed the Democrats&#8217; impeachment efforts, is leaving the Democratic Party and becoming a member of the Republican Party after meeting with President Donald Trump.
&#8220;Van Drew’s congressional and campaign staff were informed he was planning to switch parties on Saturday, according to Democratic sources,&#8221; Politico <a href="https://www.politico.com/news/2019/12/14/jeff-van-drew-change-parties-085036">reported</a>. &#8220;The question was now when, not if, Van Drew was joining the Republican Party, according to several Democrats with knowledge of the ongoing conversations.&#8221;
Van Drew reportedly met &#8220;at length&#8221; with Trump on Friday and his decision to switch parties is supposed to be officially announced in the near future, a top GOP source told Politico.
The Washington Post <a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/powerpost/trump-urges-rep-van-drew-anti-impeachment-democrat-to-switch-parties/2019/12/14/b201bb4a-1ea0-11ea-8d58-5ac3600967a1_story.html">reported</a> that his decision to switch parties delivered &#8220;a political jolt to Democrats ahead of next week’s expected vote to impeach the president.&#8221;
News of Van Drew&#8217;s defection went viral online moments after the story broke with many noting that the move is highly damaging to House Speaker Nancy Pelosi&#8217;s impeachment efforts.
Federalist co-founder Sean Davis tweeted: &#8220;Nancy Pelosi isn&#8217;t just hemorrhaging votes for her impeachment gambit, she&#8217;s now facing wholesale defections from the Democrat party because of its impeachment hysteria.&#8221;
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" data-width="500" data-dnt="true">
Nancy Pelosi isn&#39;t just hemorrhaging votes for her impeachment gambit, she&#39;s now facing wholesale defections from the Democrat party because of its impeachment hysteria. <a href="https://t.co/iWkH1bcous">https://t.co/iWkH1bcous</a>
&mdash; Sean Davis (@seanmdav) <a href="https://twitter.com/seanmdav/status/1205949015734575104?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">December 14, 2019</a></blockquote>
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Bryan Dean Wright, a Democrat and former CIA officer, responded to the news by writing on Twitter: &#8220;Turns out people get tired of defending a party that’s spent the past three years embracing Socialists, anti-Semites, and hysteria.&#8221;
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Turns out people get tired of defending a party that’s spent the past three years embracing Socialists, anti-Semites, and hysteria. <a href="https://t.co/8Wnr0Vw1EH">https://t.co/8Wnr0Vw1EH</a>
&mdash; Bryan Dean Wright (@BryanDeanWright) <a href="https://twitter.com/BryanDeanWright/status/1205957528040833024?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">December 14, 2019</a></blockquote>
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In a recent interview with USA Today, Van Drew <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/democrat-congressman-warns-his-party-be-careful-what-you-wish-for-on-impeachment-its-tearing-the-nation-apart">said</a>, “My job isn’t really to like or dislike him. My job is to exact as much goodwill and help for my district and for this nation and for this world that I possibly can while he’s president.”
On the issue of impeachment, Van Drew said, “To some folks, that’s reminiscent of what was done to kings and queens many years ago. Everything our country doesn’t stand for.”
Speaking on impeachment this week, Van Drew told reporters: “It was supposed to be bipartisan, it was supposed to be incontrovertible. It was supposed to be something that was always on the rarest of circumstances. Well it’s not bipartisan.”
Van Drew is not the only Democrat to warn his party on impeachment, Rep. John Yarmuth (D-KY) <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/democrat-warns-party-not-to-impeach-trump-because-of-who-gop-will-nominate-in-2020">warned</a> the Democrats that if Trump gets removed from office that it could be a bad move politically because of who the Democrats may have to face from the GOP in 2020.
“I do think that it’s the right thing to do to remove him from office. I believe he is an imminent danger to this country and to our democracy, but I was saying that the political consequences may not be very good for the Democrats,” Yarmuth said. “I will guarantee you the Republican Party would not nominate Mike Pence to succeed him. They would nominate someone like Nikki Haley who would be much more difficult for Democrats to defeat.”
In late November, Democrat Rep. Brenda Lawrence (MI) said that Trump should be censured but not removed from office.
“You can censure, you don’t have to remove the president,” Lawrence <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/tide-turning-on-impeachment-as-democrat-congresswoman-flips-i-dont-see-the-value-of-kicking-him-out-of-office">said</a>. “We are so close to an election. I will tell you, sitting here, knowing how divided this country is, I don’t see the value of kicking him out of office, but I do see the value of putting down a marker saying his behavior is not acceptable.”

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SHAPIRO: Dems Rip Democratic Congressman For His Impeachment Stance

Democrats Attack ‘Traitor’ ‘Rat’ Jeff Van Drew For Leaving Party, Staff Resigns

Democrat Congressman Leaving Party Over Impeachment, Becoming Republican