On Tuesday, President Donald Trump sent a bizarre letter to House Speaker Nancy Pelosi protesting Democrats’ “partisan impeachment crusade,” complete with typos and plenty of exclamation marks. The letter, first drafted with help from the White House’s resident white nationalist Stephen Miller, offered guidance for right-wing messaging Wednesday as the House debated the impeachment articles against Trump–abuse of power and obstruction of justice–and prepared to vote.
In his letter, Trump called the House’s impeachment inquiry an “unprecedented and unconstitutional abuse of power by Democrat Lawmakers.”
“You have cheapened the importance of the very ugly word, impeachment!” Trump claimed. “By proceeding with your invalid impeachment, you are violating your oaths of office, you are breaking your allegiance to the Constitution, and you are declaring open war on American Democracy.”
Shortly after the letter was published, Ed Martin took up this line of argument on his “The Ed Martin Movement” show Tuesday, repeatedly claiming Democrats were shredding the Constitution.
“What you need to know is that the Democrats are happy to water down the Constitution, they’re happy to shred the Constitution, they’re happy to turn the Constitution from a document that has bound us together, that has bound we the people, that has been this sort of anchor for our lives,” he said. “They want to shred it any way they can. And tomorrow they will shred it by voting to impeach a president for literally nothing.”
On Wednesday morning, Dinesh D’Souza followed up on Trump’s claim that Trump is the victim. “I feel bad for [Trump],” D’Souza tweeted. “He’s right to be outraged.” In Trump’s letter to Pelosi, he had claimed that “More due process was afforded to those accused in the Salem Witch Trials.”
Absurd though today’s impeachment vote is, and even though we know the outcome in the Senate, I feel bad for @realDonaldTrump . He’s right to be outraged. This is a travesty of justice and the people who are doing it deserve the severest retribution #ImpeachmentHoax
— Dinesh D'Souza (@DineshDSouza) December 18, 2019
Jim Hoft of The Gateway Pundit agreed Wednesday. “For over THREE YEARS Democrats and their mainstream media have harassed, abused, spied on, threatened and attacked this American president,” he wrote, adding, “The Democrats cheered Nancy Pelosi today. So did Satan.”
According to the right, the Democrats’ shredding of the Constitution and attacks on Trump make the American people a victim too. “So you have spent three straight years attempting to overturn the will of the American people and nullify their votes. You View democracy as your enemy!” Trump claimed.
In a video on Twitter Tuesday evening, Judicial Watch’s Tom Fitton told viewers just that: “The president is right, this is an unprecedented attack on the presidency, the Constitution, and your right to govern yourselves. Who do you think should pick the president? You, or the coup cabal that is controlling the House right now?”
From @tomfitton: "President @realdonaldtrump is right — impeachment/coup is an unprecedented attack on the presidency, the Constitution and your rights!" pic.twitter.com/c2IRdzUaPq
— Judicial Watch ? (@JudicialWatch) December 17, 2019
In another video posted later that evening, Fitton stood for emphasis, saying, “I’m going to stand up for emphasis. It isn’t over. It is not over. You have to stand up against this coup.” As the debates got underway Wednesday, Fitton repeated this claim of victimization: “@RealDonaldTrump and you, fellow Americans, are being victimized today.”
.@RealDonaldTrump and you, fellow Americans, are being victimized today. https://t.co/vJExKyzLLh
— Tom Fitton (@TomFitton) December 18, 2019
