Trump backers in Hershey scoff at impeachment charges
Hours after articles of impeachment were announced against President Trump charging him with abuse of power and obstruction, supporters gathering to see him in Hershey called the process a witch hunt.
HERSHEY, Pa. — Supporters waiting for President Donald Trump to arrive here Tuesday scorned the articles of impeachment introduced by House Democrats, predicting that the Republican-controlled Senate would quickly acquit him and the whole episode would be a mere hiccup on the president’s road to reelection.
“A very sad situation,” Eunice Rambo Smith lamented while standing in a concession line.
“They think they have to take the president down in that way because they know they don’t have anyone who can beat him," Smith, of Center Valley, Pa., said. "It’s just all fake. It’s all fake. But I don’t think it hurts him. I think he gets stronger. He’s a very strong man.”
Daniel Burke, of Hackensack, an independent running for Senate in New Jersey, called the impeachment “a fraud and an attempted coup.”
“I think what the people at this rally are looking for is accountability for people who set up a witch hunt against the president," Burke said.
Burke, 33, said he’d like to see more focus on Trump’s policies, like “the Artemis program to get mankind back to the moon by 2024. Or like his promise to have a better relationship with Russia and China.”
"I think that’s the best thing about him, I also think it’s a big reason why he’s being attacked.”
Overall, public opinion is divided on impeachment with 48 percent of Americans in favor of impeaching Trump and 44 percent opposed.
Inside the Giant Arena, however, the topic was met with shrugs and eye rolls. Count folks there are opposed, strongly. Bill Graff, of Hamburg called impeachment a waste of time. “I could beat somebody in court with what they got on him," Graff said.
Kevin Crane, a former federal agent from Delaware County, also called the evidence weak. "I wrote a book all about investigations...it just seems like a bunch of them are trying to distract from not doing anything for the country.
Neil Gingrich, 44, a pilot from Brielle, N.J., said he thinks in the end the impeachment effort will help Trump. “I think they got him reelected by doing it," Gingrich said. "They got him more press than he could ever do on his own.”