LEWISTON, Maine — The U.S. House of Representatives voted Wednesday on two articles of impeachment against President Donald Trump, but it was a split decision by U.S. Rep. Jared Golden that was on the minds of many in his district on Wednesday.
U.S. Rep. Chellie Pingree of Maine supported both articles, for abuse of power and obstructing Congress. But Golden, a fellow Democrat who represents a district that overwhelmingly supported Trump in 2016, has been more cautious.
On Tuesday, he announced that he would vote to impeach Trump over abuse of power in his dealings with the Ukrainian leader but would not support the charge that the president obstructed Congress. On Wednesday at at Simones’ Hot Dog Stand in Lewiston, diners were split on the highly anticipated impeachment vote.
“I think it’s a mess. It’s dog-bite-dog. I think the Democrats are all out just to get him. They want to be in control,” Ray Brule of Greene said.
Brule says he supported Trump in 2016 and believes the president shouldn’t be removed. But seated by the window, Pauline and Edward LaFrance said Trump has shown time and time again that he’s not fit to lead.
“You can’t have a president who lies all the time. He gets caught in it. And he gets out of it, and ‘Oh, well.’ I get tired of it, and I don’t listen to it anymore. I get tired of it,” Pauline said.
“I don’t think the American people can afford him anymore,” Edward said.
For Brule and the LaFrances, the hearings did not appear to change how they planned to vote in next year’s presidential election. But a few said the impeachment saga has led them to rethink their positions on Golden, a first-term Democrat in the 2nd District, which strongly supported Trump in 2016.
Golden has said that after a thorough review, he decided to support charging the president with abuse of power, saying the evidence was overwhelming and undeniable. But he declined to go along with the second article alleging obstruction of Congress, saying it should have been tested in court.
That decision won respect with some voters, including Mitch Lovering of Winthrop, even though he said he supported Trump in 2016 and plans to stick with him, calling the proceedings “a witch hunt.” But Lovering says Golden’s decision to split the vote on the two articles shows that he is thinking for himself and not just voting the party line.
“Because If he was just voting the line, it’s all or none. But I think he looked at the whole thing. And I liked that. Because some people are just, ‘Oh, impeach him. No matter what.’ And then some people, ‘Oh, he could shoot somebody, it’s OK, he’s a Republican.’ You know what I mean? It’s just the lines. They draw the lines. But he separated a little bit. So I like that,” he said.
For others, including Roger Martel of Lewiston, Golden’s anticipated vote was a disappointment.
“At first I didn’t think too much of him. But as time went on, I really got to like Golden a lot. And I had liked him more and more as time went on. Until this vote today,” he said.
Any political capital that impeachment advocates might have had has been squandered by now through the “totally unfair” process, said David Eaton, a 54-year-old mechanical engineer from Bar Harbor after changing a tire on a car in the parking lot at the Tradewinds Market in Blue Hill.
“The Democrats wanted to impeach him before he was even elected,” he said of Trump.
But Blue Hill resident Howard Evans said the impeachment process is necessary and said he has lost some faith in Golden after his decision. To Evans, Trump’s election and fight against impeachment have both relied on lies and people’s inability to discern fact from fiction.
Golden’s hesitancy, Evans said, reflects a timidity that a lot of center-left politicians display when things shouldn’t be so difficult to call out publicly.
“It makes me think less of him,” Evans said. “I thought he was a good guy, but now I’m not so sure.”
BDN writer Nick Sambides Jr. contributed to this report, which appears through a media partnership with Maine Public.