US President Donald Trump has his eyes on the 2020 campaign trail. However, some voters would rather see ‘a giant meteor strike the Earth, extinguishing all human life’ than endure him being re-elected.
Trump escaped being ousted from office on Wednesday, February 5, after the Senate voted against two impeachment charges advanced by the House last November.
With that acquittal, the president will be ramping up his re-election efforts. However, not everyone is keen on him renewing his stay at the White House, with some wishing for death by meteor instead.
According to a fresh poll from the University of Massachusetts at Lowell, 64% of New Hampshire Democratic Primary voters would opt for mankind’s demise via an intergalactic fireball than another term of Trump’s rule in Washington D.C.
This verdict from Democrats isn’t exactly surprising – however, it’s interesting to see that 28% of conservative-minded voters joined the Democrats in welcoming a meteor to Earth. Of the women polled, 68% opted for dying in a meteor strike rather than putting up with Trump for another four years.
A similar poll was conducted ahead of the 2016 elections, although focusing primarily on young people and only the two major candidates, Trump and Hillary Clinton. Back then, 53% of those aged 18-35 said they’d rather be wiped out by a meteor than see either secure the presidency.
Trump was impeached for abusing his presidential power in a quid pro quo with Ukraine, dangling military aid and a White House meeting with President Volodymyr Zelensky in exchange for the country launching a corruption inquiry into Joe Biden and his family – a leading Democrat candidate.
He also faced an obstruction of Congress charge due to his failure to comply and cooperate in impeachment proceedings, in which no witnesses were called to testify. Across the breadth of the trial, the House provided 28,578 pages of evidence, including 17 depositions of current and former government officials. Senators asked 180 questions of House managers as well as Trump’s defence team.
However, on article one of impeachment (regarding abuse of power), senators voted 48 guilty to 52 not guilty. On the second article (regarding treason), senators voted 47 guilty to 53 not guilty – ergo missing the two-thirds required for conviction.
In the days following his acquittal, Trump is said to be conducting a staff shake-up, and has already fired two witnesses: US envoy to the EU Gordon Sondland, and Lt Col Alexander Vindman, a top expert on Ukraine during the process.
Before leaving for North Carolina yesterday, February 7, Trump told reporters: ‘I’m not happy with him [Lt Col Vindman]. You think I’m supposed to be happy with him? I’m not.’ The president has yet to comment further on any staff dismissals.
If you have a story you want to tell, send it to UNILAD via story@unilad.com
After graduating from Glasgow Caledonian University with an NCTJ and BCTJ-accredited Multimedia Journalism degree, Cameron ventured into the world of print journalism at The National, while also working as a freelance film journalist on the side, becoming an accredited Rotten Tomatoes critic in the process. He’s now left his Scottish homelands and took up residence at UNILAD as a journalist.