WFHB Bloomington Community Radio
Podcast: Play in new window | Download (Duration: 3:36 — 7.7MB)
The Senate vote on impeachment, the state of the union address and the Iowa caucus fell on the same week. WFHB Correspondent Alex Dederer reports on the state of our union during a contentious week.
It has been a busy week in the world of politics with the collision of the impeachment trial, the Iowa caucus and President Trump’s State of the Union address delivered just last night.
Last night, the House chamber was split down the middle as President Trump delivered his State of the Union address sandwiched between the Monday confusion of the Iowa caucus and the impeachment trial vote later today on whether Trump will be removed from office.
In the address, Trump spoke of his political base which included restricting abortion access, controlling immigration and appointing conservative judges. Just seven weeks ago in the same House chamber, House democrats voted to impeach Trump on two Articles for impeachment: abuse of power and obstruction of Congress. He did not mention anything about the impeachment trial in his address.
There appeared to be obvious tension between President Trump and Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi. As Trump handed Pelosi and Vice President Mike Pence copies of the address, Pelosi extended her hand to Trump for a handshake which he did not take. At the end of the address, Pelosi ripped up her copy of the speech.
Depending upon the Senate vote later today, Trump will likely become the first impeached president to run for re-election.
On Monday, House Democrats and President Trump’s defense team made their final arguments before the Senate votes whether to remove Trump from office later today.
Senators will take a formal vote on the two Articles for impeachment. Acquittal of Trump is nearly guaranteed with the need of 20 percent of the Republican Senators to join the Democratic Caucus to vote against the president. Monday’s session followed last Friday’s vote to block witnesses and the introduction of new evidence into the trial.
Also on Monday, the Iowa caucuses reported only 62 percent of results that night from the nearly 1,700 caucus-goers across the state due to what Iowa democrats call “inconsistencies.”
According to Five Thirty Eight, as of this morning, 71 percent of precincts are reporting at least some results.
The final realignment vote, which is the nearly 15 percent of the voters at a caucus site who did not meet the threshold and are allowed to switch to another candidate, currently has Bernie Sanders leading South Bend’s own Pete Buttigieg 26 to 25 percent of the popular vote.
While the state delegates equivalents count has Buttigieg leading Sanders 27 to 25 percent. The state delegates equivalent count determines the number of Iowa Democratic National Convention delegates a candidate receives.
Tuesday night, with a little over half the caucus results reported, Buttigieg declared victory while on the road in New Hampshire.
According to the Indy-Star, Buttigieg stated, “So we don’t know all of the results, but we know by the time all is said and done, Iowa you have shocked the nation. Because by all indications, we are going on to New Hampshire victorious.”
If he does win, Buttigieg will be making history by being the first openly gay candidate to win a presidential caucus or primary.
