DEMOCRATS CALLED IT A sad and solemn day – a prayerful one, even. Republicans made it a day of outrage. Democrats wanted to talk about the substance of the allegations against President Donald Trump. Republicans railed against the process. Democrats said they were upholding their oath to the constitution and democracy; Republicans said Democrats were trying to undo a democratic election.
There’s little left on Capitol Hill that is conducted in a bipartisan manner, with most legislation being approved or defeated with few or no crossover votes. But as the House voted Thursday to formalize an in-progress impeachment inquiry, it became clear that this was not just another party-line exercise. It’s the start of something very ugly and very personal, with Trump characteristically in the center of it all.
“The names are bigger than the rest of the question” about whether Trump committed impeachable offenses, says Lee Miringoff, director of the Marist Institute of Public Opinion in Poughkeepsie, New York. “For lack of a better phrase, facts are going to take a back seat to rooting. No matter what happens, you’re with your guy.”