Invoking Scripture to make his case for the abolition of slavery, Abraham Lincoln famously declared that “a House divided against itself cannot stand.” These words still ring true today as Speaker Nancy Pelosi fans the flames of partisanship with an illegitimate impeachment crusade against President Trump.
Not a single Republican voted for the Democrats’ two flimsy articles of impeachment that the Democrats rammed through the House of Representatives after a one-sided “inquiry” — but three members of Pelosi’s caucus could not bring themselves to go along with the farce, and a fourth voted against one of the articles. One Democrat, New Jersey Representative Jeff Van Drew, even switched his allegiance to the Party of Lincoln because of Nancy Pelosi’s impeachment sham.
Democrat voters nationwide are coming to the same realization as Van Drew. President Trump and this Republican Party welcome them with open arms. In the words of Ronald Reagan, another longtime Democrat who eventually joined the GOP, these voters won’t really be leaving the Democrat Party, because the Democrat Party has already left them.
The Founders intended impeachment as a drastic remedy — so drastic that they made sure a president could only be removed from office by an overwhelming majority of the Senate. Pursued responsibly, impeachment could even serve as a unifying force, bringing ideological opponents together for the sake of protecting both Constitution and country. When it is pursued irresponsibly, however, impeachment is not only needlessly divisive but also represents a serious threat to the constitutional order in and of itself.
A partisan impeachment is a tyranny of the majority, something the Founders took great pains to defend against when they devised our system of government. Lincoln was keenly aware of the dangers of polarization as he watched the country settle into a political stalemate that would ultimately to the most divisive time in our history.
While Nancy Pelosi managed to divide her own Party — and much of the country — her obsession with nullifying the result of the 2016 presidential election is uniting and energizing Republicans.
Within just 48 hours after the Democrats voted to impeach, the Trump campaign raised over $10,000,000 in online donations. Even more impressively, more than 200,000 patriotic Americans have signed up to get involved with the President’s re-election campaign since Speaker Pelosi first announced the impeachment inquisition in September.
If you travel outside of the Washington, D.C. Beltway, the burgeoning energy and unity of Republicans are ever increasing. The best place to witness this growth is at a Trump rally. At the very moment that Democrats were preparing to vote for impeachment, President Trump was addressing tens of thousands of enthusiastic supporters — 17 percent of whom were registered Democrats — at a Keep America Great rally in Battle Creek, Michigan. Last month, at the height of impeachment hysteria, more than 30,000 people gathered in Sunrise, Florida to join President Trump for a rally — and that was on the Tuesday before Thanksgiving!
As for the new volunteers, I’ve traveled across the country over the past few months to join them in trainings as part of the RNC and the Trump Campaign recruitment initiatives. The American people aren’t standing idly by while politicians try to take down our President. More and more Americans understand it’s time to get in the game.
This partisan Democrat impeachment crusade has sparked a call to action for Republicans. Republicans are coming to the defense of our president, our country and our institutions. The Party of Lincoln will once again unite our Republic by rejecting Pelosi’s attempt to divide the House.
John Pence (@JePence) is a Senior Adviser to the Trump 2020 campaign. He is an alumnus of The College of William & Mary and holds a law degree from the Indiana University Maurer School of Law and a business degree from New York University.