Democrats’ hopes for Trump trial damage misplaced
If Sen. Ed Markey ever suggests you bet on a horse he’s got a “good feeling about,” keep your wallet shut. Because while Massachusetts Democrat is an optimistic soul, his prognostication skills are lacking.
Markey was in town over the weekend and, as the Boston Herald reported, commented on the Senate impeachment trial.
When Americans hit the voting booth in November, President Trump will “pay the price,” said Markey. The trial is spotlighting the president’s “irresponsible actions.” “I think the American people are listening. I think they’re paying attention. I think that the testimony has been riveting and convincing, and I think Donald Trump is the one who’s being damaged,” he said.
The impeachment proceedings have damaged the image of Donald Trump — among the same people who considered him damaged before he took the oath of office — Democrats and the anyone-but-Trump contingent.
For them, Nov. 8, 2016, was a day of mourning, and every breath President Trump has taken since has spurred the country toward the Apocalypse.
On May 17, 2017, Texas Congressman Al Green presented articles of impeachment against Trump, citing the president’s firing of FBI Director James Comey. Trump had been in office for four months. The seeds of the Senate’s impeachment trial were planted when Trump placed his hand on the bible and took the oath of office.
If Markey believes that the folks are shedding their partisan views as they watch the trial, consider this: Three-quarters of Americans say it’s not very likely or not at all likely that the trial will introduce new information that would change their minds, according to a poll from The Associated PressNORC Center for Public Affairs Research.
Polls differ by a few points, but a recent ABC News/Washington Post survey found 47 percent of the public saying senators should remove Trump from office and 49 percent saying they should not.
Roughly how the country was divided between Hillary Clinton and Donald Trump back in 2016. The factions have not changed.
Neither have Trump’s supporters, who counter calls of “quid pro quo” over Trump’s Ukraine phone call with “What about Hunter,” in reference to former Vice President Joe Biden’s son whose cushy job with Ukraine company Burisma warrants scrutiny of its own.
Hillary supporters and anybody-but-Trumpers see the impeachment trial as vindication, those who support the president see vindictive efforts to undermine democratic institutions to avenge the loss of the 2016 election.
While Sen. Markey remains convinced that the trial will cost Trump votes, he might want to recall the words of James Carville, Bill Clinton’s campaign strategist during his 1992 run for president. “It’s the economy, stupid.”
Average hourly earnings are up 3.1% from 2018, the unemployment rate stands at 3.7%.
As of November, the Trump administration has created 7 million jobs.
Most Americans aren’t concerned with parsing a phone call to a Ukraine leader, but making one to their family saying “I got the job.”
These folks may smack their foreheads when the commander in chief takes to Twitter, or makes a cringeworthy statement — but the president’s supporters knew what they were getting when they cast their vote. And they were keenly aware of the disdain in which they were held by the Beltway elites and their compatriots in the mainstream media.
That’s what going to play out in November — that and a possible upset for Markey, who’s trailing rival Joe Kennedy III in the fundraising stakes by a cool million.