Trump's day: Impeachment in D.C.; 'four more years' in Battle Creek

Paul Egan , Kathleen Gray | Detroit Free Press

Show Caption Hide Caption Donald Trump takes shot at Debbie, John Dingell in Battle Creek rally Donald Trump made a comment about Debbie Dingell and her late husband, John Dingell, during his "Merry Christmas" rally in Battle Creek.

BATTLE CREEK – At the moment the U.S. House was taking a historic impeachment vote Wednesday, Republican President Donald Trump showed his contempt for the process at a raucous rally in a battleground state where his upset 2016 victory helped send him to the White House.

Trump took his impeachment fight to Battle Creek as the U.S. House, where Democrats are in the majority, was voting to approve articles of impeachment alleging he abused his power in his dealings with Ukraine and obstructed Congress as it attempted to investigate the controversy.

"Tonight, the House Democrats are trying to nullify the ballots of tens of millions of patriotic Americans," Trump said.

"It doesn't really feel like we're being impeached," Trump told the crowd, to loud applause. "The country is doing better than ever before. We did nothing wrong, and we have tremendous support in the Republican Party."

No president, he said, should "go through the crap that we're going through."

More: Donald Trump takes shot at U.S. Rep. Debbie Dingell, her husband John Dingell at rally

More: The respectable Republicans keeping Donald Trump alive

Trump, who was joined at the rally by Vice President Mike Pence, became the third U.S. president to face an impeachment trial in the U.S. Senate, and the first Republican.

Pence told the crowd that Trump wanted to watch the impeachment vote before taking the stage, to witness the strength of congressional Republicans in voting no. But Trump actually took the stage at 8:06 p.m., two minutes before the House started voting.

He faced a sympathetic audience in Battle Creek.

"I think they should just leave him alone and let him do his job," said Julie Bush, who works for a company that manufactures trailers in Three Rivers and attended the rally at Kellogg Arena.

Bush and her husband, Robert, a retired auto mechanic, were part of a huge crowd of Trump supporters lined up outside to enter the arena on a bright but chilly afternoon. Some had been waiting since Tuesday.

Entrepreneurs hawked T-shirts and hats and protesters hoisted signs and a large effigy of the president. Some chanted, "Lock him up."

Only 5,400 people were allowed inside the arena, said Battle Creek Fire Chief Brian Sturdivant. Thousands more watched the rally outside, on a large-screen TV.

Those inside waved Trump/Pence signs and alternated between loud roars of approval for GOP speakers, rounds of "the wave," and chants of, "Drain the swamp," and "U.S.A."

Trump touted the economy and recent news of Ford Motor Co. planning to add 3,000 jobs in southeast Michigan.

And he took a shot at Democratic Gov. Gretchen Whitmer, who campaigned in 2018 on a pledge to "fix the damn roads."

"She's not fixing those potholes," Trump said. "She wants to raise those gasoline taxes. We don't want to do that."

Whitmer, who responded to Trump on Twitter by posting the tallies of the impeachment votes, proposed a 45-cent gas tax hike to raise more than $2 billion to fix Michigan's crumbling roads. Republican legislative leaders rejected the plan and Whitmer said they never offered a serious counterproposal that did not involve putting at risk teacher pension funds.

Trump gave a rambling speech that lasted two hours and two minutes. Many attendees were streaming for the exits before he concluded. Trump touted his tax cuts and his removal of government regulations, while attacking his former opponent Hillary Clinton, the Affordable Care Act, the FBI, the Democrats now running for president, and U.S. Rep. Debbie Dingell, D-Dearborn.

By attending the rally in Battle Creek, Trump became the first president to be away from Washington, D.C. at the time of his impeachment. Former President Bill Clinton was at the White House, about to host a Christmas party, when the House voted to impeach him on Dec. 19, 1998. Former President Andrew Johnson, also a Democrat, was in Washington, D.C. at the time of his impeachment in 1868, said his biographer David O. Stewart.

Both Johnson and Clinton were acquitted in the U.S. Senate, when votes to remove them fell short of the required two-thirds majority. The same is expected to happen with Trump.

In 1974, Republican President Richard Nixon resigned ahead of a certain impeachment vote in the U.S. House.

On Wednesday, the House approved the first article of impeachment, abuse of office, by a 230-197 vote, and the second, obstruction of Congress, 229-198. One member voted "present" each time, and two Democrats voted against one article and three Democrats voted against the other. The votes were based on evidence that Trump withheld military aide to Ukraine and a White House visit while pressuring the country's president to investigate a political rival, former Vice President Joe Biden, and a conspiracy theory related to the 2016 election.

Trump, in a Tuesday letter to House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, denounced his impeachment as a "perversion of justice," an "election-nullification scheme," and an "attempted coup."

Notably, the Trump rally was held inside the congressional district of U.S. Rep. Justin Amash, a former libertarian Republican who left the party over his opposition to Trump and was the only non-Democratic vote on the articles of impeachment.

Laura Cox, chairwoman of the Michigan Republican Party, said she expected Wednesday's impeachment vote in the House would energize the rally.

"I think this is backfiring on the Democrats," Cox said. "People are smart. We can see through gamesmanship."

But Lavora Barnes, chairwoman of the Michigan Democratic Party, who held a news conference outside the arena, said the enthusiasm Michigan Democrats showed in the 2018 election, when they won up and down the ballot, is continuing into 2020.

"We've got boots on the ground and knuckles on doors," Barnes said. "We're going to repeat the blue wave of 2018 and elect a president who stands for working people."

Trump, who in 2016 became the first Republican presidential candidate to win Michigan since 1988, when he wrapped up his campaign with a Grand Rapids rally that stretched into Election Day morning, is relying in part on a strong economy and a roaring stock market as he attempts to repeat the feat in 2020.

More: Crowds across Michigan gather to call for impeachment of President Donald Trump

More: Trump administration blasts U.S. Rep. Elissa Slotkin for support of impeachment

"He's been delivering on jobs, jobs, jobs," Pence said as he warmed up the crowd for Trump's appearance.

Michigan's unemployment rate, which was 4.9% when Trump took office in January 2017, hit a low of 3.9% in August and September of 2018 and was measured at 4.1% this October.

But jobs in Michigan's manufacturing sector decreased close to a percentage point in the last year, from 633,000 to 628,000, according to the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics. Though no longer "Cereal City" in the way it was during its heyday, two of the biggest employers in the Battle Creek area continue to be cereal manufacturers, the Kellogg Co. and Post Consumer Brands.

Trump's trade and tariff policies, which, in many cases, have been opposed by Detroit automakers, have also caused export problems for many Michigan farmers.

Calhoun County is a swing county that twice voted for former President Barack Obama, but also voted for Trump. Most recently, in 2018, the county narrowly backed then-Republican Attorney General Bill Schuette, who lost his bid for governor to Whitmer.

The importance of Michigan to Trump was evident Wednesday, as Pence delivered a speech in Saginaw before joining Trump at the "Merry Christmas Rally" in Battle Creek. Attorney General William Barr was in Detroit on Wednesday to announce an anti-crime initiative. And on Tuesday, Trump's daughter-in-law Lara Trump campaigned in Sterling Heights, situated in the key Michigan county of Macomb.

"Michigan is going to be a competitive state again," Whitmer said Wednesday. "No one should take Michigan for granted, on either side."

Dave Tramel, 72, a retired state worker from Battle Creek, said the impeachment of Trump is "a fiasco." Trump as president is "better than what we've had for a number of years," and "he's trying hard," Tramel said.

Not everyone who showed up to wait in line Wednesday was necessarily a Trump supporter.

Three 21-year-old students from Ball State University in Muncie, Indiana — Sarah Maxson, Casey Jordan, and Haleigh Pickett — said they made a trip to the rally for an experience that would combine entertainment and education.

Jordan said she identifies as more of a Democrat, but wanted to hear what Trump has to say.

"A lot of the issue with politics is nobody takes time to listen," she said. "For me, that's the way to do it."

Asked whether they were at the rally to see Pence, who also hails from Indiana, all three women gave an emphatic "no."

Also speaking at Wednesday's rally was metro Detroit businessman John James. Polls point to a close U.S. Senate race between James, a Republican, and U.S. Sen. Gary Peters, a Democrat who is completing his first six-year term. In 2018, U.S. Sen. Debbie Stabenow, a Democrat from Lansing, was reelected to a fourth term, defeating James by just over seven percentage points.

"I know from firsthand experience what it takes to keep this country safe and free," said James, a former Army helicopter pilot.

In Lansing on Tuesday night, Pat and Judi Campeau joined about 200 people outside the state Capitol at a pro-impeachment rally. It was one of scores of similar rallies held Tuesday around Michigan and across the nation.

Trump has shown contempt for the constitution, said Pat Campeau, who is retired and served in the military.

"In our eyes, he's a criminal."

Staff writer Todd Spangler contributed to this report.

Contact Paul Egan: 517-372-8660 or pegan@freepress.com. Follow him on Twitter @paulegan4. Read more on Michigan politics and sign up for our elections newsletter.