People from across the nation came together to march on Capitol Hill on Oct. 17 to show support for President Donald Trump’s 2020 re-election bid amid the ongoing impeachment inquiry. With the impeachment hearings being held publicly for the first time in the investigation, the Trump march stands as a reflection of attitudes of frustration on the matter.
The March for Trump started with a small number of people, but then grew exponentially as it went on. This is because large groups, who came on bus trips, were told to depart one and a half miles away from the Capitol Building.
The Capitol lawn was filled with Trump supporters holding flags and signs. During the march, some march-goers shouted that the inquiry is “taking away their vote” and is being conducted by corrupt politicians in order to remove the president for political reasons.
Throughout the march, chants broke out. Marchers said, “stop the coup,” “drain the swamp” and “Democrats are a lie.”
Jonathan Gilliam, a career public servant, author and conservative figure was the first to speak at the march.
“Stop using the word ‘conservative,’ use ‘constitutionalist,’” Gillam said as the crowd roared with cheers and applause.
For others, the march was personal. Janett Andrews, a former resident of Maryland that attended the march, said that under President Obama, her employment bonus was heavily taxed, so she decided to vote for Trump in 2016. She said Trump “fights for me” and that under his governance “this is the way life should be.”
Although they did not attend the march, the AU College Republicans, headed by president Jordan Bell, took a different approach to spread the word about the impeachment inquiry. Bell said that although they do not plan to endorse or promote a specific position on impeachment, AU College Republicans hope to open up a dialogue about it with the student body. He said impeachment is an important discussion to have, especially with others with a different point of view.
“If impeachment keeps going, we’ll maybe hold a forum with members and talk about it,” Bell said. “Maybe a debate with the Dems about if the president should be impeached or not. We certainly play a little bit of a role making sure everyone is informed and promoting a healthy debate around issues during an interesting time in our nation.”
He added that he doesn’t believe the current field of candidates running in the 2020 presidential race is “gonna put up too much of a fight.”
The AU College Republicans will not endorse a specific candidate in the race, either.
“It’s certainly interesting to watch and see how it’s going to play out for the president and how it will play out for both parties [and] the country,” Bell said.
