ABQ rally backs calls to ‘dump Trump’

Protesters back impeachment ahead of vote by full House

“Dump Trump!” “Lock him up!” “Impeach, impeach!” “He’s gotta go!”

Motorists were greeted with those chants on the commute at Girard and Central on Tuesday evening. They saw “Baby Trump” balloons, signs reading “No one is above the law!” and “Mob boss” near the University of New Mexico campus in Albuquerque on the eve of an expected U.S. House impeachment vote of President Donald Trump.

“Showing a mass of people and the people’s will on the streets is a good way in moving toward impeachment, conviction and removal,” said Albuquerque resident Ruben Rodriguez, one of about 200 people who converged on all four corners of Central and Girard as part of the “Nobody Is Above the Law” rally calling for Trump’s impeachment. It was one of many similar demonstrations taking place nationwide. There have also been small “Stop the Madness” protests in some New Mexico communities over the past couple of months in support of the president.

“He’s unfit,” Placitas resident Maggie Burgess said when asked why she attended the ‘No One Is Above the Law’

rally. “But now he’s gone from being unfit to being a criminal. He’s obstructing justice.”

“Show me what democracy looks like,” a woman with a bullhorn shouted at the intersection as she kept the crowd fired up. “This is what democracy looks like.”

Many of the motorists showed their approval, honking their horns as they drove through the intersection, some flying American flags, although a couple of motorists gave the demonstrators the finger as they drove by.

“I am not a legislator or a lawyer, but I know the corruption is clear and evident in our president,” Albuquerque resident Dave Wheelock said. “He’s got to go. Any president who declares the press ‘enemies of the people’ is purposely dividing the country in dangerous ways. There are so many issues in which he has demonstrated his corruption.”

He accused the president of fanning the flames of racism and classism.

Pat Ward echoed those sentiments.

“I would have never believed we’d have the world that we have,” Ward said. “Racism, white supremacy, Nazism, fascism — it’s all there.”

He referred to the president as a con artist and “a self-absorbed jackass.” “That’s all he is,” he said. Rodriguez was among those who referred to the articles of impeachment as a reason they braved the chilly weather to protest.

“Once you start bringing other countries into our elections, it is a dangerous and slippery slope,” he said. “I think the transcripts that people refer to is pretty clear.”

The president has been accused in the articles of impeachment of abuse of power for allegedly soliciting a foreign country to help him politically by trying to force Ukraine to launch a corruption investigation into his political rival Joe Biden and his son, Hunter. He is also accused of obstructing Congress by failing to cooperate with the House investigation.

New Mexico’s three House members, all Democrats — Ben Ray Luján, Deb Haaland and Xochitl Torres Small — have said they will vote in favor of impeachment.

“I am fully supportive of our delegation … here in New Mexico,” Terry Eisenbart said. “They have stood up from Day One.”