Former Congressman Beto O’Rourke claimed that Congress should impeach President Trump even if the American people are against it.
Even though House Speaker Nancy Pelosi has been pumping the brakes on impeaching the President, many Democrats have been calling for him to be removed from office because of the findings of the report from Special Counsel Mueller, even though Mueller didn’t find evidence of criminal conspiracy and refused to move on obstruction of justice.
One reason Nancy Pelosi has been hesitant on impeaching the President is the political damage that could hit the Democratic Party if they move forward. Several polls have shown that the American people — especially the politically-invaluable independent voters — do not favor impeaching the President.
Despite the fact that Americans don’t support impeachment, Beto O’Rourke claimed that Congress should ignore the will of the American people.
O’Rourke appeared in an interview on “State of the Union,” and told host Jake Tapper that he believes elected officials know better than the American people when it comes to impeaching President Trump.
“If we rely on polls and what is immediately popular, then why do we need people in elected positions of public trust? Your main responsibility as a member of the House is to do what is best for this country. And in given the fact that our democracy is under attack unlike any time in the last 243 years, it’s essential that you do your job. Now, that might not be popular and might not be easy. But it is the only way that we’re going to get to the truth, it is the only way we’re going to save and restore this democracy and it is the only way we’re going to prevent these kinds of attacks going forward.” He said.
O’Rourke stated that Trump’s willingness to hypothetically take opposition research from foreign governments is an example of why Congress must ignore the will of Americans and move forward to impeach the president.
“I think the president’s admission this week that he would take help from a foreign government going forward is all you need to know about the importance of impeachment and that impeachment beginning now.” He said.
While it’s more than clear that O’Rourke doesn’t respect impeachment polls, he also probably isn’t a fan of the presidential polls, either. He is currently polling between 1% and 3% in a few recent polls for the 2020 Democratic presidential primary.