Trump says impeachment has increased his popularity
Miami: The US President has told young conservatives in Florida that the “unfair” impeachment process has shot his level of popularity “through the roof” as he took aim at the opposition and even members of his own party.
In a speech on Saturday lasting more than an hour during a conservative youth convention in West Palm Beach, Florida, Donald Trump said Democrats have no case against him and were only seeking what he termed an illegal and unconstitutional impeachment, reported Efe news.
The speech comes days after the House of Representatives approved two articles accusing him of abuse of power by pressuring Ukraine for inquiries into a possible case of corruption by former vice president and political rival Joe Biden, and subsequent obstruction of Congress in the ensuing investigation.
“It’s so unfair,” Trump said before a dedicated audience of the ‘Turning Point USA conservative youth conference’, which brought together over 5,000 young people between the ages of 15 and 25 in West Palm Beach, near where Trump has his Mar-a-Lago mansion.
According to the organisation’s website, young people would “receive first-class activism and leadership training, and participate in a series of networking events with political leaders and top-tier activist organisations” from those such as Fox News’ Sean Hannity, former White House press secretary Sarah Sanders, Republican senator Ted Cruz, Donald Trump Jr and the president’s personal lawyer, Rudy Giuliani, among others.
As usual, Trump took aim at the media, House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (whom he called “crazy Nancy” and said had “no case” for impeachment against him), the “raging leftwing mob” of Democrats and even lawmakers in his own party, calling “Never Trumper” Republicans “the dumbest human beings on Earth.”
Trump claimed his government had achieved more this month alone than “almost any president has achieved in eight years in office.”
These achievements would include the “toughest ever action against China,” defence spending and the creation of the Space Force, recent approval of the new trade treaty with Mexico and Canada (USMCA) in the House of Representatives, stable economic growth and an unemployment rate of 3.6 percent, a level not seen for 50 years, according to US Bureau of Labour Statistics figures.
“We’re replacing the NAFTA (North American Free Trade Agreement) and the NAFTA disaster with the brand new USMCA,” said Trump.
Among the successes of his government he mentioned the construction of the border wall with Mexico, of which he said that some 160 kms had been erected, drawing loud cheers from the crowd.
But he warned that all these achievements would be at risk in the November 2020 presidential election because Democratic contenders for the White House wanted to “destroy what we’ve built.”