The Accused Defends Himself … in Iowa

Donald Trump attacks impeachment just before the primaries begin

On the eve of a decisive day in his impeachment trial in Washington, Donald Trump euphorically basked in the glow of an admiring crowd in Des Moines. Des Moines is the capital of Iowa, a state in which the Democrats, those “sick maniacs” who made him the third president in history to be subjected to an impeachment trial in the Senate, are currently fighting to decide who will be the candidate tasked with removing Trump from power, this time in an election. This Monday, Trump himself is also running in his party’s primary, but in his almost two-hour rally, he didn’t say a single word about his two Republican rivals, Massachusetts Gov. Bill Weld and former Rep. Joe Walsh, who have no chance of snatching the nomination from the president. However, he did spend a good part of his speech – amid the cheers of his faithful – insulting the group of people from which his future Democratic rival will emerge, blaming them for a trial driven by “partisan rage.”

After having recently signed the trade agreement with Mexico and Canada, and the first phase of the deal with China, and having ordered the operation that took the life of Iranian Gen. Qassem Soleimani, the contrast that Trump wanted to draw between himself and his political rivals was clear. “While we’re proudly creating jobs and killing terrorists, Congressional Democrats are consumed with partisan rage, and obsessed with a deranged witch hunt hoax,” he said.

Trump is convinced that impeachment won’t take a toll on him. “The American people … know it’s a hoax … [The Republicans] know what’s going on and they’re going to treat us very fairly. But, the Democrats are trying to overturn the last election. We will make sure that they face another crushing defeat in 2020.”

Hundreds of people were left outside the 7,000-seat university sports center where the rally took place. Facing snow and below-zero temperatures, supporters began to gather outside up to 30 hours before the event began. Some 1,600 kilometers from Washington (approximately 994 miles), in a rural state where Trump lost the primary but won the presidential election in 2016, many of the president’s faithful shared his vision on impeachment. “It’s all a lot of shit from the Democrats. They never even gave him the chance of a fair trial in the House of Representatives. But what we care about is the economy, jobs. We’re clearly better off than three years ago and I’m still certain that I’m going to vote for Trump,” argued 69-year-old Michael Jensen, a retired railroad worker.*

Eleya Shetler, 24, a shop assistant in an Iowa City wedding dress store, also voted for Trump three years ago, but says she had doubts. “I would’ve voted for any other candidate that went up against him, except for Hillary Clinton,” she acknowledges. “As a Christian, I was concerned about some of Trump’s values, his anger on social media, his insistence on building the wall with Mexico. But now my reservations have disappeared. He’s shown more compassion and he’s been true to his principles, while the Democrats were trying to remove him no matter what.”*

*Editor’s note: Although accurately translated, this quoted remark could not be independently verified.