Throw the Bum Out! There are 235 Democrats in the U.S. House of Representatives. 231 of them voted their intent to impeach the President. That’s every Demcorat who was in the Chamber at the time of the vote.
We are on the record
We now know where every member of the House is on impeachment. It is certain this move is purely partisan. It appears the Democrats believe they cannot win the presidency at the polls. For that reason, they are emboldened to attempt this coup. There are no charges so there is only political animus. It is fairly certain “I don’t like you is an unreasoned impeachment position.”
This is the first time the House of Representatives has officially gone on record about impeaching Trump. Democrats are now on the record in support of this baseless move by the radical leftists. Pelosi made the announcement the House is conducting an impeachment inquiry of the president. The move was made via a press conference which is outside normal procedure.
Procedural dance
Normally consideration of impeachment by the House requires votes to formally open proceedings. That is what it has done each of the three times in recent history the move has been undertaken. In attempting to shield vulnerable Democrats Pelosi did not hold a formal vote. In response, the House Minority Leader drafted a resolution formally condemning the way in which Pelosi launched the impeachment inquiry.
Since Democrats are in the majority, they control what votes happen on the floor. But as the GOP leader in the House of Representatives Kevin McCarthy has the ability to force a vote on a privileged resolution. So McCarthy did that. He introduced the resolution as privileged and forced the full House to vote on it.
Democrats pushed back with a motion to table McCarthy’s privileged resolution. That is where the vote of record happened. A vote for the motion to table was a vote against the resolution and vice versa. The motion to table succeeded along party lines. There were 231 House Democrats voting for it and 193 House Republicans voting against it. “Independent” Rep. Justin Amash of Michigan voted with the Democrats. Five Republicans and three Democrats did not vote.
In plain English
In plain English, they are all on the record now. Throw the Bum Out! By shooting down McCarthy’s resolution the Democrats are formally on the record in support of Pelosi’s impeachment inquiry. The Republicans have now all gone on the record against it. This is the vote formally opening impeachment proceedings.
No Democrat in the House of Representatives can now claim it is not their intention to remove the duly elected president of the United States from office by force rather than election. There is no middle ground anymore, no more supporting an “investigation” without backing impeachment. There’s no quibbling about needing more facts or figuring out what’s next. The mealy mouthing is over. The cards are on the table.
Conclusion
Every Democrat in the House supports removing Trump from office. None is willing to hold an election in 14 months. The GOP is unified behind its president. Impeachment being partisan is an optics win for Trump. It feeds his narrative that the Democrats are power-hungry. They cannot beat him at the ballot box. They are using extraordinary measures to attempt to seize the office by force. Throw the Bum Out!