This Washington Post story is called “A moderate congresswoman went all-in for Trump. Her constituents think they know why.” The story is fake news at several levels.
First, the Post didn’t take a survey of Stefanik’s constituents. Thus, the Post doesn’t know whether her constituents think they know why their congresswoman, who has a moderate voting record in the House, is backing President Trump so strongly during the impeachment process.
Second, the constituents the Post spoke with gave conflicting reasons for her position. Some seemed to think it’s because impeachment is unpopular in Stefanik’s district. Others think it’s because she’s a faux moderate. One activist said:
She was putting up a facade of being a moderate, bipartisan. It was an absurd act. And now the facade is long gone.
This is stupid. The measure of Stefanik’s moderation, or lack thereof, is how she votes on policy issues, not what she thinks of the case for impeaching Donald Trump. One can be a moderate and believe Trump shouldn’t be impeached. In fact, polling suggests that many (perhaps most) moderates believe just that.
The Post’s Griff Witte refuses to entertain a third possible explanation for Stefanik’s position on ousting the president. It just might be that she thinks the case for doing so falls well short on the merits. Polling suggests that more Americans now believe this than don’t.
As for her stridency during the hearings before the House Intelligence Committee, Stefanik just might think the committee’s procedures were unfair to the president. She just might be pissed off at Adam Schiff for the way he ran the show.
I think she is. I think she should be.
The Democrats apparently deluded themselves into thinking that some moderate Republicans would buy their view that Donald Trump should be impeached for his behavior towards Ukraine. They can’t distinguish between their hate-filled, partisan view of Trump’s behavior and the way people who don’t hate Trump and who aren’t Democrats view the matter.
Neither, it seems, can the Washington Post.
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