US President Donald Trump tore into Democratic impeachment efforts, slamming the drive to have him removed from office as a “coup” plot seeking to deprive Americans of their rights and freedoms.

Taking to Twitter on Tuesday night, the president told his followers their very identity as Americans was threatened by impeachment proceedings initiated by House Democrats last week.

As I learn more and more each day, I am coming to the conclusion that what is taking place is not an impeachment, it is a COUP, intended to take away the Power of the People.

He added the Democrats were looking to take away his supporters’ votes, “their Freedoms, their Second Amendment, Religion, Military, Border Wall, and their God-given rights as a Citizen of The United States of America!”



....People, their VOTE, their Freedoms, their Second Amendment, Religion, Military, Border Wall, and their God-given rights as a Citizen of The United States of America! — Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) October 1, 2019

The president’s opponents soon came out in force online, abundant and vocal as ever, with Democratic 2020 hopeful Kamala Harris urging Twitter CEO Jack Dorsey to remove Trump from the platform altogether.

Some critics turned the tweet back on the president and argued he would like to remove all the same rights himself “by becoming dictator,” while other naysayers predicted the beginning of the end for the Trump administration, forecasting its imminent “collapse” in the face of an impeachment inquiry.

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Many commenters tweeted in the president’s favor, however, with one backer stating Americans simply “want their congress to care about what is best for America,” which she said the Democrat-controlled House was not delivering. Others noted that Democrats were only after impeachment “because they have no path to victory” through the ballot box.

A self-avowed Republican took the president’s language to task, slamming his use of the terms “coup” and “civil war,” as “SO dangerous and destructive.”

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Offering a more “constructive” suggestion, one user noted that President Richard Nixon was able to avoid the disgrace of full-on impeachment by resigning his post. Another insightful commenter disputed the “coup” designation altogether on the grounds that the next president in line would be a Republican, Vice President Mike Pence.

Nixon just resigned to avoid impeachment, have you considered the option? pic.twitter.com/w8buI9CCVY — Jim Clarke (@losclarke) October 1, 2019

Whether the US is destined for a President Pence remains to be seen, but as the impeachment campaign takes off in Washington, Trump’s most fierce critics and staunch backers are squaring off in increasingly heated skirmishes, in the Twitterverse and elsewhere.

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