Freshman Rep. Peter Meijer, R-Mich., admitted last week that he may have ended his political career by voting to impeach President Donald Trump.
GOP Rep. Peter Meijer, one of ten House Republicans to vote for Pres. Trump’s impeachment, says recent days have been “absolutely gut wrenching.”
“I’m calling on my party to restore trust—to restore the trust of the voting public.” https://t.co/UKlf1qPaGX pic.twitter.com/NkN4hZ8om1
— This Week (@ThisWeekABC) January 17, 2021
Meijer, who replaced former Rep. Justin Amash, I-Mich., was one of 10 House Republicans who voted alongside Democrats to impeach Trump for “inciting an insurrection” at the U.S. Capitol building on Jan. 6.
When asked whether this vote was tantamount to political suicide, Meijer acknowledged that he could face serious consequences for turning against Trump.
“I may very well have,” he told ABC News, “but I think it’s also important that we have elected leaders who are not thinking solely about what’s in their individual self-interest, not what is going to be politically expedient, but what we actually need for the country.”
ABC’s George Stephanopoulos then asked Meijer whether it was time for the entire GOP to move past Trump.
Meijer replied: “I think it’s time that we acknowledge that what happened on Jan. 6 was a betrayal of what had been accomplished over the past four years, that it was a culmination of a politics that at all too often, you know, fanned flames rather than focusing on building and governing.”
Trump “brought some necessary energy” and “necessary ideas,” Meijer explained.
“He shook the tree. He was a change agent,” Meijer continued. “The challenge was that he didn’t know when to stop, and he didn’t draw a line, and to me, political violence is the line that we must draw.”
