A cold rain was falling, but that was not enough to keep several hundred people from gathering at Hinds Plaza at the Princeton Public Library for an “impeach and remove” rally in support of impeaching President Donald Trump on Dec. 17.
The rally, which drew attendees from Princeton, Lawrence Township, Monroe Township and Cranbury Township, was one of hundreds held nationwide on the eve of the U.S. House of Representatives’ vote to impeach the President for “high crimes and misdemeanors” – specifically, abuse of power and obstruction of Congress.
Rally organizers warmed up the crowd with a call-and-response chant.
“When democracy is under attack, what do we do?”
“Stand up, fight back.”
“When the Constitution is under attack, what do we do?”
“Stand up, fight back.”
“When our rights are under attack, what do we do?”
“Stand up, fight back.”
Once the crowd was energized and warmed up, a parade of speakers outlined the reasons for impeaching and removing Trump – from Mayor Liz Lempert to state Assemblyman Andrew Zwicker (D-Mercer, Somerset), the Rev. Robert Moore of the Coalition for Peace Action, and Robt Seda-Schreiber, the chief activist at the Bayard Rustin Center for Social Justice.
Lempert, a Democrat, reminded the crowd that when Republican lawmakers were sworn into office, they took an oath “to support and defend the U.S. Constitution against all enemies, foreign and domestic.”
“These are not words on a page. Democracy is not a game. We are all here tonight, along with thousands of others across the country, to tell Congress to honor the oath of office they took,” Lempert said.
Asserting that the Trump Administration is bent on ripping the country apart, Lempert said that as mayor, she feels the effects of Trump’s “poisonous policies every day.”
“[It is] his attacks on immigrants, refugees, people of color and the press, his attempts to sow fear and division and to wage a war on truth,” Lempert said.
Lempert urged the attendees to “stand up and fight back through our everyday work of creating a community where everyone feels safe and welcome. We fight back by taking our country back on Nov. 3, 2020.”
Zwicker was quick to remind the attendees that “we are here to defend democracy.”
“Nobody is above the law. We are here because we are angry. Democracy is under attack. Enough is enough,” Zwicker said.
“I refuse to let this be who we are as a country. We are better than that,” Zwicker said as the crowd chanted “Vote them out. Vote them out.”
Princeton Councilman Dwaine Williamson told the attendees that the time has come to choose a leader and to choose who they will serve.
“This is for the Republicans in Congress. Who will you serve – the Constitution or a political party? This is setting a precedent for the future,” said Williamson, a Democrat.
“This person [Trump] attacks every pillar of the United States. You are going to have to choose who you serve – democracy over dictatorship,” Williamson said.
Rev. Moore – “Donald Trump should never have been elected. Remove him now. To the Republican Party writ large – shame on them. They ignore the U.S. Constitution.”
One of the speakers read a letter signed by more than 700 historians, including Princeton University history professor Sean Wilentz, that they believe laid out the case for Trump’s impeachment.
The letter cited Trump’s “lawless obstruction of the House of Representatives” in its oversight role. His justification on the grounds that the executive enjoys absolute immunity is a fictitious doctrine that, if tolerated, “would turn the president into an elected monarch above the law.”
“Collectively, the president’s offenses, including his dereliction in protecting the integrity of the 2020 election from Russian disinformation and renewed interference, arouse once again the framers’ most profound fears that powerful members of government would become, in Alexander Hamilton’s words, ‘the mercenary instruments of foreign corruption,’” the letter said.
“It is our considered judgment that if President Trump’s misconduct does not rise to the level of impeachment, then virtually nothing does…. That disregard continues and it constitutes a clear and present danger to the Constitution,” the letter said.
The final speaker, Seda-Schreiber, one of the rally’s organizers, tried to sum it up.
“This is not a political moment in our nation. This is a pivotal moment in our nation’s history. This is not an event to celebrate. This is a solemn moment to finally acknowledge what our great country has lost,” Seda-Schreiber said.
“This is not opposition to a candidate, a person holding office as we speak, or even a specific party. This is not a gathering meant to vilify any individual,” he said.
“We are here to support the integrity of our laws, our Constitution and our very democracy. We are here to retake our integrity as a nation. We are here to preserve our integrity as a people,” he said.
“Politics and party are irrelevant in this, for in a democracy, no one – and we mean absolutely no one – is above the law,” Seda-Schreiber said.