Prominent left-wing activists groups on Thursday launched an “Impeachment August” organizing campaign to pressure Democrats at town hall events during the August recess to back an impeachment inquiry.
Impeachment activists are ready to take a page out of the Tea Party playbook and confront Democrats during the August recess to apply even more pressure on House Democrats who are still on the fence about impeaching President Donald Trump.
According to a Thursday BuzzFeed report, Indivisible, MoveOn, Need to Impeach, and Stand Up America are joining forces to give activists the tools to “organize events of their own, including visits to congressional offices and approaching members in public” to back an impeachment inquiry.
A majority of House Democrats have come out to support an impeachment inquiry, but House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-CA) is reportedly reluctant to go forward unless she has 218 Democrats on board for impeachment.
“This August, we’ll show up to town halls & district offices to tell our members of Congress to do their jobs and open a formal impeachment inquiry now,” the organizing site reads.
The website gives activists tools to find town hall meetings that members of Congress have scheduled and impeachment inquiry events near them and also tells activists:
Donald Trump has broken the law, abused presidential power, and stoked hatred in our country. Additionally, the Mueller investigation found:
→ 37 indictments
→ 7 convictions or guilty pleas
→ 10 possible instances of obstruction
→ Lying to investigators about over 100 secret meetings with Russians
If the average person did this, they’d be in jail. It’s past time for Congress to do their jobs and begin a formal impeachment inquiry. But the reality is, unless their constituents show up this August during the congressional recess, they won’t act.
Find a town hall or plan your own district office visit and ask your Representative: “Will you uphold your oath to support and defend the Constitution and support an impeachment inquiry into crimes committed by Donald Trump?”
Grassroots impeachment groups signaled that they would be organizing a pressure campaign right after Special Counsel Robert Mueller’s testimony. Groups like By the People immediately said it is time for impeachment activists to “get into the streets” because of Congress’s inaction on impeachment.
“In the face of Mueller’s testimony, Congress’ continued inaction is not only unacceptable, it’s an abdication of their constitutional duty. We call B.S. It’s #ImpeachNow or never,” the group said. “Calling your reps is not enough—it’s time to get into the streets.”
Frustrated impeachment activists have accused Democrats who are wary of impeachment of trying to run out the clock on impeachment, arguing that the party’s leadership scheduled Mueller’s hearing right before the August recess because it will be more difficult for pro-impeachment lawmakers to pressure and organize Democrats during the six-week summer recess.
As Breitbart News has noted, impeachment activists are actually trying to argue that impeachment proceedings will help Democrats take back the White House. One argument they are using is the one House Judiciary Committee Chairman Jerry Nadler (D-NY) reportedly made during a meeting with Pelosi in which he “countered Pelosi’s pushback by noting that polls showed limited support for removing President Richard Nixon from office when the House began impeachment hearings in 1973, but that public support for the effort grew as more evidence came out about Nixon’s illegal behavior.”
Impeachment activists have also “argued that though Republicans lost the 1998 midterms leading up to -[Bill] Clinton’s impeachment, they won the next two presidential elections and got back control of the House for eight more years before throwing that majority all away after backing the Iraq War and living high on the hog with their infamous K-Street project and other corrupt shenanigans.”