Donald Trump had a "very big announcement" to make. In the Oval Office, the office of the American president, he announced that the "highly respected" congressman Jeff Van Drew would leave the Democrats and join the Republican party.
That had already been hinted at. But officially Van Drew did it the day after the impeachment vote in the House of Representatives. Or rather, he left it up to the President himself.
Behind the joint appearance was calculus on both sides. Trump's high-profile support is designed to help Van Drew maintain his constituency in southern New Jersey. The change will benefit the president in view of the upcoming impeachment proceedings.
In the Congress itself, the change will no longer benefit the President. Van Drew was one of four Democrats in the House of Representatives to vote against impeachment. Now the case is with the Senate, where Van Drew has no vote.
In the video: Trump on Democrats "political suicide march"
REUTERS
The transfer benefits Trump and his allies in another way: as a PR coup. In the Senate, at least twenty Republicans would have to side with the Democrats to achieve the two-thirds majority required for Trump's impeachment. That is almost impossible.
Van Drew's move now allows Republicans to go on the offensive. See, the message is, not only can you not chase senators away from us; your people from the House of Representatives also switch to us.
He can't remember when someone last left a majority party to join the minority, taunted Republican minority leader Kevin McCarthy in the House of Representatives. And Andrew Clark, a spokesman for Trump's campaign team, etched on Twitter: "The democratic impeachment is so convincing that a democrat has actually changed sides."
Democrats impeachment is so compelling that:
PelNancy Pelosi won't send the impeachment articles to the Senate.
✅Not a single Republican voted for it and 3 Democrats voted no.
✅One Democrat actually switched parties.
Great post-game!
Against the backdrop of the current political camp in the United States, Van Drew's change is remarkable, Republicans and Democrats are irreconcilable. Some of Van Drew's former party friends in Congress were raging, and there was talk of treason. Five of his employees left the company.
In the summer, the MP and vehement Trump critic Justin Amash announced his resignation from the Republican Party. Unlike Van Drew, he did not change the camp, but now sits as an independent member of the House of Representatives.
Van Drew is fighting for political survival
Van Drew had secured the support of influential Republicans for his move, according to the "New York Times": At a meeting in the White House with Trump and his adviser Kellyanne Conway, he had made the promise to the president a week ago to publicly support him. Ex-New Jersey governor Chris Christie, who still has excellent contacts in the state, is also on board.
He thinks the Republicans just suited him better, Van Drew justified his decision. Even before he was elected to Congress, he had held conservative positions as a state parliamentarian, such as on gun law or same-sex marriage.
Brendan Smialowski / AFP
Donald Trump welcomes Jeff Van Drew: New political loyalties
The change should primarily serve Van Drew's political self-preservation. His rural and small-town constituency in southern New Jersey is considered conservative. In the 2016 presidential election, Trump won him by almost five percentage points. Before Van Drew prevailed here last November, the constituency had been in the hands of the Republicans for 24 years.
A direct reason for Van Drew's change was possibly a poll among Democrats in his constituency. Seven out of ten respondents said the MP would decline in their favor if they voted against Trump's impeachment.
Now Van Drew is railing against his old party, warning of socialism and the "Green New Deal", an environmental initiative by the party left. It remains to be seen whether this will ensure his political survival. The Republicans on site, as can already be seen, the reception will not be as warm. Several Republican candidates have announced that they will continue to seek nomination for the next congressional election.
"He is desperately trying to save himself," said Bob Patterson, one of the applicants, the "Philadelphia Inquirer" about Van Drew. "He knows that this is a Trump constituency. He knows that he would lose. He acted on a very specific calculation."
In the meantime, one person benefits the most: President Trump. Van Drew's move helps him to discredit the Democrats' attempt to get him out of office as a "political witch hunt".
