Fox News Panel Argues Impeachment Helps Donald Trump
A Fox News panel concluded on Saturday that the impeachment investigation is actually good for President Donald Trump, reports Mediaite.
Fox News hosts Brian Kilmeade and Jesse Watters opened the discussion with contributor Deroy Murdock arguing that impeachment is helping Trump solidify his base.
Pointing to polls suggesting that support for impeachment has dropped, Watters argued that voters simply do not trust House Democrats and impeachment witnesses, and that Democrats have not been able to build a convincing case against the president.
“None of this stuff has panned out that’s why these polls don’t move on impeachment, the people just don’t trust what they’re hearing anymore,” he said.
In agreement with Watters, Kilmeade posited that voters across the United States are not even following the impeachment hearings, arguing that the inquiry has made even those uncertain about Trump “more determined” to support him because they don’t trust the process.
According to the host, impeachment “made the ambivalent Trump supporters more determined because they see unfairness to it.”
After Kilmeade explained his argument, Watters asked Murdock whether he agrees.
“Trump being besieged 24/7 by all of this stuff, do you think that’s what hardens their allegiance towards president?” the host asked.
Murdock agreed with Kilmeade’s conclusion, arguing that voters believe the president is being investigated over “unusual,” but not illegal conduct, suggesting that the hearings are not going well for House Democrats, since polls show that support for the maneuver has declined.
According to Murdock, voters see Trump “being victimized over nothing, over a call that might be a little bit unusual but nothing illegal or impeachable in the view of increasing number of people we’ve seen since the impeachment hearing started support for impeachment has fallen.”
. @realDonaldTrump won't get the nomination, Trump won't win, Stock Market will tank, Russia Collusion…These are the stories PUSHED hard by The Media that NEVER HAPPENED. @kilmeade and #DeroyMurdock are here to discuss tonight. #FoxNews 8PM ET pic.twitter.com/N0IgHkIkzL
— Jesse Watters Primetime (@jesseprimetime) November 30, 2019
Polls indeed suggest that support for impeachment is declining. For instance, according to a recent poll from Emerson College, support for impeachment went down from 48 percent in October to 44 percent in November. Similarly, according to a Marquette University poll, a majority of voters in key states such as Wisconsin no longer support impeachment.
Speaker of the House of Representatives Nancy Pelosi — who long dismissed impeachment, irking members of her own caucus — has not formally committed to holding a vote, but will most likely have to do so. Unless she does, according to Republican strategist Josh Holmes, she will “put her speakership at risk.”
It has been rumored that Pelosi wants to censure Trump, instead of impeaching him, which would not even give the Republican-controlled Senate the opportunity to hold a trial, after which the president would almost certainly not be convicted.
Prominent Republicans and Trump have argued that the apparent shift in public opinion could change Pelosi’s mind about the issue.
