The US is on the verge of only its third presidential impeachment in history, with Donald Trump expected to be censured in the House of Representatives on Wednesday for his actions with Ukraine. But some Democratic politicians are facing anger from their constituents.
Swing state congresswoman Elissa Slotkin knew she was in for a bumpy ride ahead of her appearance in front of hundreds of Michigan constituents on Monday morning.
The Democrat, who last year was elected to represent a district that voted for Trump, had announced just hours earlier that she was coming out in favour of impeachment.
She’d gone home to her farm in Holly at the weekend and sat at her desk with coffee and papers to weigh up the evidence in front of her. It was clear, the former CIA analyst decided, that the president’s actions had crossed the threshold and that she was going to vote for the two articles of
impeachment.
Now she had to stand up in front of 400 local residents to explain why.
Outside the town hall meeting at Oakland University, near Rochester, people were making their views loud and clear.
There was a stand-off between those who support her decision and Trump supporters who think she’s in the wrong, and should be impeached herself.
Waiting to go into Ballroom A for the event, they stood on either side of the hallway with their placards (“Impeach Slotkin, keep Trump” one read), exchanging chants. Some tried covering up pro-Slotkin signs with their own, leading to a minor tussle by a Christmas tree.
Inside the ballroom, there was a chorus of loud boos competing with cheers the moment the congresswoman stood up. The meeting organiser asked for everyone to respect each other, but that didn’t stop the yelling.
“Hey hey, ho ho, Elissa Slotkin’s got to go!” came the chants from one corner of the ballroom, peppered with “four more years!” and “MAGA!”. One man stood with his back turned to the congresswoman for most of the hour-long event.
“I’m glad to see so much enthusiasm for civic engagement,” she began.
As she set out to explain her reasoning, sometimes the shouts threatened to drown her out. “Let’s have a civil conversation,” she said at one point. “I’m going to continue – I have the microphone.”
When she came on to the subject of impeachment, she was greeted with a standing ovation.
What was different in this case, says the congresswoman, was that the president in his phone call to the Ukrainian president at the heart of the allegations against him, decided to act for his own personal gain “and not in the interests of the United States”.
“Short of declaring war, this is one of the biggest decisions I will be voting on in my short time in Congress. I take it very seriously.”
There were yells of “you’re not fooling anybody” as she continued: “Whether you agree with me or not, I have attempted in all I can to be transparent. For me, this is an issue of principle.”
She said she’s aware that her stance could lose her her seat in the 2020 elections.
“I know, and I can hear, that this is a very controversial decision.
“The thing that’s different for me is this very basic idea that the president of the United States would reach out to a foreign power and ask for an investigation for personal political gain.
“While you may not agree, I hope you believe me when I tell you I made this decision out of principle and out of a duty to protect and defend the constitution. I feel that in my bones.
“And I will stick to that regardless of what it does to me politically because this is bigger than politics.”
