President Donald Trump has a message for his Twitter followers after the House of Representatives voted to impeach him Wednesday night. The 73-year-old commander-in-chief took to the social media platform to share a menacingly-lit black and white photo of him sitting in a chair and pointing at the camera. Text above and below him read, “In reality they’re not after me, they’re after you. I’m just in the way.”
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) December 19, 2019
Trump’s tweet came amid a flurry of messaging that he’s unbothered by the impeachment vote; while at a campaign rally in Michigan during the time of the voting, he said it “doesn’t really feel like” he was being impeached.
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The post also came amid Trump’s messaging that the impeachment should mean more to voters in the Republican party than it does to him. In one of his many tweets from Wednesday he wrote that the impeachment was an “assault on America” and an “assault on the Republican party.”
Thursday morning, he shared support for his political party, referencing the fact that there were no Republican outliers in either vote Wednesday night. “100% Republican Vote. That’s what people are talking about. The Republicans are united like never before!” he tweeted.
Leading up to the impeachment, Trump continuously called out Democrats for being “partisan” in what he has repeatedly called a “witch hunt” against him.
The House of Representatives formally impeached Trump on two articles. Article I, which leveled charges of abuse of power, won with 230 votes in favor and 197 opposed. It was largely along party lines, with two Democrats voting against it and one voting “present.” Two Republicans and one Democrat did not vote. Article II, which accused Trump of obstruction of congress, passed 229-198. Three Democrats voted no; two Republicans and one Democrat did not vote.
The vote came after a full day of heated debate over the matter, which followed weeks of private and public hearings investigating whether or not Trump leveraged military aid to Ukraine in exchange for a political favor.
Since the vote, Trump has been adamant that it has minimal political repercussions against him. It will next move to a trial in the Senate, where it would take 67 votes to remove him from office. In the Senate, Republicans still hold the majority with 53 seats compared to the Democrats’ 45, which means Trump most likely will not be voted out of office during the forthcoming trial.
