Trump Addresses The Prospect Of Impeachment At Montana Rally
President Donald Trump told a crowd on Thursday at a rally in Montana that he could face impeachment if the Republicans lose control of Congress, pleading that supporters get out and vote for GOP candidates in the midterm elections.
If Trump is impeached, “it’s your fault ’cause you didn’t go out to vote,” he said, as reported by CNN.
“This election, you aren’t just voting for a candidate, you are voting for which party controls Congress,” he added. “Very important thing. Very important thing. They like to use the impeach word. ‘Impeach Trump!’… ‘But he didn’t do anything wrong.’ ‘It doesn’t matter. We will impeach him. We will impeach.'”
Trump’s speech comes on the heels of a series of events that have put strain on the president’s relationship with his own aides and political appointees over questions regarding his competence. Trump has grown paranoid over a feeling that his staff may have betrayed him following the release of a new book by journalist Bob Woodward and an anonymous opinion essay in The New York Times.
Thank you Montana, I love you! pic.twitter.com/9J4Xv2PoNw
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) September 7, 2018
“How do you impeach somebody who is doing a great job, hasn’t done anything wrong. Our economy is good. How do you do it?” he asked the crowd, as quoted by the Washington Post. “It’s a hell of a place in Washington.”
The president attacked The Times’ essay at the Montana rally, calling it “gutless” and challenging the publication’s reporters to uncover the identity of the official within his administration who penned the damning essay, the Post reported.
“Look at that thing today. Is it subversion? Is it treason?” he asked “The good thing about that is that even liberals that hate me think that’s a terrible thing they did.”
The rally in Montana — where Trump was campaigning on behalf of Matt Rosendale, who is challenging incumbent Democratic Sen. John Tester — was not the first time the president has addressed the subject of his own impeachment, CNN noted.
“If I ever got impeached, I think the market would crash. I think everybody would be very poor,” he said in an interview following the guilty plea of his former attorney Michael Cohen, as quoted by CNBC.
The Montana rally is the first in a stretch of campaigns before the November midterms. In addition to his usual complaints about the media, Trump seemed particularly eager to defend his competence as president.
“Is he competent?” he said mockingly, imitating a news anchor, according to the Post report. “I think I’m pretty competent!”
