Thomas Breen photos
Dozens of primarily suburban protesters rallied on the steps of New Haven’s City Hall in the icy rain to call on Congress to impeach President Donald Trump Wednesday.
The protest took place Tuesday afternoon at 5:30, one day before the U.S. House of Representatives is expected to vote on the two articles of impeachment passed last week by the House Judiciary Committee against Trump.
New Haven’s longtime Democratic U.S. Rep Rosa DeLauro has already announced that she plans to vote for impeachment. The protesters braved the dark and cold, wet weather Tuesday evening to chant and sing and demand that DeLauro’s Democratic and Republican House colleagues do the same.
Holding high both umbrellas and protest signs that read “Dump Trump” and “Impeach Trump Now,” the ebullient crowd sang protest anthems like “Ain’t Gonna Let Nobody Turn Me Around” and “This Land Is Your Land.”
The rally was one of 600 around the country hosted by the advocacy and organizing group Move On, which also helped turned out hundreds of primarily suburban protesters on the Green last year after Trump de facto fired his then-Attorney General Jeff Sessions.
If a majority of U.S. representatives vote to impeach Trump, the matter will then move on to the U.S. Senate, which will serve as the jury to evaluate the charges filed by the House.
The Judiciary Committee has recommended that Trump be impeached for abuse of power and obstruction of Congress in relation to his administration’s apparent withholding of military aid for Ukraine in exchange for the investigating his political rival Joe Biden and his son Hunter. (Pictured above: Best Video’s Hank Hoffman.)
Many progressives have criticized House Democrats for filing only two impeachment articles, ignoring alleged repeated violations of Constitutional norms and regulations throughout his presidency, from the Emoluments Clause to obstruction of justice during Special Counsel Robert Mueller’s investigation.
“The night when he got elected, I don’t cry very often, but I cried for America and the working class because since day one we’ve been under assault,” said Bruce Conroy (pictured), a Local 326 union carpenter from Wallingford.
He asked people in the crowd to shout out where they were from. “Branford! Guilford! West Haven! Madison!” people replied.
“It’s the whole goddamn state of Connecticut!” Conroy cheered.
Hamden resident Jason Kulas (pictured) urged his fellow protesters to ask their friends and family who couldn’t make it out to the rally Tuesday night to call their Congressperson and ask him or her to vote for impeachment.
“Even if people like Trump,” he said, “even if they think his policies have been semi-beneficial or very beneficial, what he’s done is a serious issue for the future of our democracy. Even if you like him, people should be voting their conscience.”
West Haven resident Gaye Hyre agreed. She said she was out in the rain Tuesday night representing eight of her friends who were too sick or otherwise unwell to come out.
“We’re the tip of the iceberg,” she said. “And ice is the operative word.”
Waterbury resident Fahd Syed (pictured) of the Muslim Coalition of Connecticut said his family has been directly adversely impacted by the Trump administration’s travel ban against majority Muslim countries. Members of his family are trapped in Yemen and not allowed to emigrate to the United States, he said.
“I don’t want to be discriminated against,” he said. “I don’t want my children to be bullied based on their race.”
“There should be no ban,” he continued. “There should be no wall. And there should be justice for all.”
Guilford resident Nan Ellman (pictured) reminded the majority white audience that, although she too woke up after the 2016 presidential election with a deep pain in her stomach, many minority communities have long suffered from discriminatory policies that well predate Trump.
“Trump really just uncovered a lot of stuff that has been around for a long time,” she said. “There are a lot of people, poor people and minorities, who have kind of had to be aware of this for a long time. We have to make sure that even if we succeed in getting rid of Trump, we don’t stop fighting the ideas and hatred and policies that led him to get into power in the first place.”
Click on the Facebook Live video below to watch part of Tuesday night’s protest.
"Moveon.org", of course, was founded to oppose the impeachment of a president who had quite clearly committed a felony to cover-up a pattern of sexual use, and possibly abuse of subordinates. The cry was, "Censure, and move on," with the justification for not removing being that they liked his policies. Here, the protestors don't seem at all concerned with the uncodified "high crimes and misdemeanors" alleged on the articles of impeachment. Rather, it seems, they seek the President's removal through impeachment vice election due to policy differences, seeking to overturn the precedent set with Justice Chase's impeachment.
Were Trump removed from office, it would be interesting to see if he nonetheless was elected in 2020. A successful impeachment and removal would be very energizing for Trump and his supporters.