Watching President Donald Trump’s impeachment was weird, wild and historic TV
It was raucous, bitter, partisan, repetitive, seemingly endless.
And historic.
President Donald Trump’s impeachment? Yeah, that, too. I was talking about the television coverage of it, but those descriptions work for both things.
The U.S. House of Representatives voted to impeach President Donald Trump on Wednesday. That’s what people will remember, in a week — or maybe a day, or an hour. Certainly, in a century, that’s all they’ll remember.
But on Wednesday, Democrats and Republicans took to the House floor, and for hours they debated the merits of impeachment, with every second of it (and there were a lot of seconds) covered live, without interruption. Members, the majority of whom had their speaking time counted out in mere minutes, tried to make the most of their camera time.
After all, newspapers are still around, radio remains and social media is increasingly important to how we perceive the world around us. But television is still how most of us take in history as it happens.
Make no mistake, that’s what this was.
How the long day of impeachment began
The morning began with a debate over the rules, which is misleading because in reality, it was just a forum for members to natter on about why they were for or against impeachment. It began with Republicans moving to adjourn the proceedings — the political equivalent of a hitter stepping out of the batter’s box.
People wonder why baseball ratings are down.
After weeks of committee hearings, viewers have become used to a certain type of behavior in such hearings.On Wednesday, Tom Cole, R-Okla., made his case against impeachment relatively quietly. Honestly, it’s now as if someone doesn’t scream, “witch hunt!” or “Hunter Biden,” they come off like Daniel Webster.
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Arizona Republican Debbie Lesko was actually one of the first to turn up the volume on what had been to that point — at least in terms of decibels — a relatively quiet proceeding.
That was just the pre-game show. Although the debate wasn’t limited to the House floor.
On CNN, resident Republican apologist Rick Santorum argued against impeachment. At one point host Anderson Cooper told him, “Intellectually, your argument doesn’t make sense.”
Where high volume met hyperbole
We got a hint of how this would go during the Intelligence Committee and Judicial Committee hearings — intensely partisan and often ugly. This was no different. That said, there is something intriguingly anachronistic about the proceedings, as when you hear the archaic rules of order — “I yield to the gentlewoman from Arizona” — juxtaposed with the gentlewoman tweeting immediately after she’s done.
It’s all information, all the time. And yet they hew to many of the same rules in place when Andrew Johnson was impeached.
As someone who watched and listened to the whole thing, Republicans speak a lot more loudly, often yelling. And they’re more given to hyperbole.
A couple of Republicans compared the proceedings Wednesday to the attack on Pearl Harbor. Rep. Barry Loudermilk, R-Ga., said, “When Jesus was falsely accused of treason, Pontius Pilate gave Jesus the opportunity to face his accusers. During that sham trial, Pontius Pilate afforded more rights to Jesus than Democrats have afforded this president.”
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Not over the top enough for you?
Then here’s Rep. Fred Keller, R-Pa., to bail you out. “I want Democrats voting for impeachment today to know I’ll be praying for them,” he said. “From the Gospel of Luke, the 23rd chapter, verse 34: And Jesus said, ‘Father, forgive them, for they know not what they do.’”
Not that Democrats were immune to hyperbole.
“Your frothy eloquence neither convinces nor satisfies me,” Jason Smith, a Republican from Missouri, said. Rep. Sean Patrick Maloney, D-N.Y., said of Trump, “His actions echo in this chamber, and like a tin can tied to his leg, will rattle behind him through the pages of history.”
Someone’s been reading “A Christmas Carol” in the spirit of the season.
Keep in mind, again, they got very little time to speak. It was like speed-dating, only political.
That’s why, when Rep. Steny Hoyer, D-Md., the 80-year-old House majority leader spoke, slowly, eloquently and reasonably, it was like a scene out of “Mr. Smith Goes to Washington.” It was as if he was speaking a different language.
And then the vote.
Watching ‘a moment of immense gravity’
“It is a moment of immense gravity, solemnity and history,” Jake Tapper said on CNN.
Originally it was a voice vote, but that led to voting electronically, which was unsatisfying. Viewers couldn’t see the representatives’ votes as they cast their ballots for history. Instead on every network we saw, in an age with incredible technological capability, graphics that looked like something from a 1974 “Monday Night Football” game.
No matter. It was done. President Trump was impeached. Right there on TV.
A lot of times we witness history without realizing it until later. Not Wednesday. This was watching history unfold as it happened, in real-time. There were some interesting things still to come — Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi cutting off Democrats’ cheers when the votes were counted with an icy glare, mostly — but for better and worse we saw it all.
On to the Senate, we go. Stay tuned.
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