GOP congressman tries to connect impeachment to abortion

Rep. Clay Higgins (R-LA) blamed Wednesday’s impeachment vote in the House of Representatives on “socialists” who “threaten unborn life in the womb” and “threaten Second Amendment protections.”

Higgins made his claim during a speech opposing the two proposed articles of impeachment against Donald Trump that stem from Trump’s attempt to pressure Ukraine to dig up dirt on his political rivals while withholding foreign aid from the nation.

Announcing that he had “descended into the belly of the beast” and had “witnessed the terror within,” Higgins said he opposed the impeachment.

“I rise committed to oppose the insidious forces with threaten our republic,” said Higgins, adding, “America’s been severely injured by this betrayal, by this unjust and weaponized impeachment.”

In full, Higgins alleged that the impeachment has been “brought upon us by the same socialists who threaten unborn life in the womb, who threaten First Amendment rights of conservatives, who threaten Second Amendment protections of every American patriot.”

Republicans have been pushing for further restrictions on abortion access, acting at both the state and federal level to block women from vital health care.

Despite Democratic leaders adhering to the Constitution’s prescribed method for administering impeachment, Higgins said that America was “being devoured from within.”

Standing beside a map showing counties that Trump won in the 2016 election, Higgins said the map “is what the Democrats fear.”

“They are deep established D.C.,” said Higgins, “They fear, they call this Republican map flyover country.”

The map Higgins showed off has been criticized in the past for not accurately representing the election results. While it appears to show the United States as dominated by Republican-won red areas, many of those regions are sparsely populated. At the same time, regions of the country where Democrats have won are underrepresented, downplaying the millions of voters in urban and suburban areas.

Maps adjusted for population size show a far more accurate representation of election results, with a much closer divide between the parties reflected in the reality of the 2016 outcome, when Hillary Clinton outperformed Trump by nearly 3 million votes.

Higgins ended his speech with another attack on Democrats while echoing the apocalyptic language of Trump and other Republicans, who have inaccurately called the impeachment a “coup.”

“We will never surrender our nation to career establishment D.C. politicians and bureaucrats,” said Higgins. “Our republic shall survive this threat from within. American patriots shall prevail.”

Published with permission of The American Independent Foundation.