"Oh My God, There’s Nothing There"

In article on POLITICO.com, writer Michael Kruse recounted a town hall held November 25^th in Whippany, N.J. with U.S. house Representative Mikie Sherrill.

The first question was from a woman about impeachment.

“We sent you to Washington to get work done, for us and for our country, and it appears that for the last couple years all that has been going on is investigations. We honestly, can’t trust Adam Schiff …”

“Do you have a question?” a man yelled.

“Sit down!” another shouted.

Rep. Sherrill admonished the crowd, “Excuse me! We agreed to be respectful!”

Then Rep. Sherrill answered the question that was not quite a question. 

“So, as most of you know here, I did not run for office to impeach the president. I ran on taxes and health care and infrastructure. However, as somebody who spent her life working on issues of national security, as someone who spent her life working with foreign governments and our allies across the world, the president crossed a line for me when it seemed as if he had withheld critical military funding from a security partner because he wanted them to investigate an opponent of his in an election.”

The response to her comments was a chorus of cheers and boos.

After the town hall, a Republican named Ruth Anne, thought Rep, Sherrill’s answer was “very disturbing,” adding “I thought, by now, after the two weeks of hearings, she would have seen, ‘Oh, my God, there’s nothing there.’”

And I might respond to Ruth Anne if I could, “And I thought, by now, after the two weeks of hearings, you would have seen, ‘Oh, my God, Donald Trump has so much to answer for.’”

How did we get here?

It’s like we’re a group of travelers meeting up in Oklahoma City and we all agree we’re going to follow Interstate 40 to the west coast. Then half of us wind up Barstow, CA and the other half winds up in Wilmington NC. And both sides insist they are right.   

Over the course of two weeks of hearings, we were all on the same damn road and wound up in two different destinations.

Are the fact of the matter that much open to interpretation?

To the woman who opened the town hall by says, “We honestly, can’t trust Adam Schiff”, who pray tell exactly is “we”?  It’s not everybody in attendance. There are people there telling you to shut up. And on what basis do you infer your lack of trust in Adam Schiff?  

To Ruth Anne, exactly how closely were you paying attention to “the two weeks of hearings”? What is your evidentiary basis for saying Oh, my God, there’s nothing there.’”?

I think the opinions of these women owes less to their own examination of the facts before them and more to the what they are told to believe. Trump and his sycophants tell them that Adam Schiff cannot be trusted. Li’l Donnie and his loyal Fox New lap dogs instruct them that “there’s nothing there.’”

We’re not just up against Donald Trump’s abuse of power. We’re also up against a concerted effort to defend him at all costs, facts be damned.

When two weeks of hearings produce copious amounts of support that Donald Trump abused and misused the power of his office, the real damage to America reveals itself in women like Ruth Anne who cannot or will not accept the proof before her eyes and will insist, “Oh, my God, there’s nothing there.’”