Trump says he will be impeached if Republicans are routed in midterms

The president skipped the White House correspondents’ dinner to hold a rally in Michigan

Donald Trump has urged Republicans to fight to keep control of the House of Representatives to save him being impeached by the Democrats.

Republicans currently hold a 235-193 advantage in the lower chamber of the US Congress. But some Democrats believe that with Mr Trump’s low approval rating and strong enthusiasm among its grassroots supporters, they can flip the 24 Republicans they would need to retake control in the November midterm elections.

Speaking to his supporters in Michigan at a rally he held in preference to attending the White House correspondents’ dinner in Washington, Mr Trump said it was vital to retain control of the House.

“We have to keep the House because if we listen to Maxine Waters, she’s going around saying, ‘We will impeach him, we will impeach him’,” he said.

“But then people say, ‘He’s done nothing wrong’. But she says, ‘Oh that doesn’t matter. We will impeach the president’.”

Congresswoman Waters of California is among those Democrats who frequently call on Mr Trump to resign or face impeachment. The Hill pointed out that, at the recent Time 100 gala in New York, she urged Mr Trump: “Please resign.”

“So that I won’t have to keep up this fight of your having to be impeached, because I don’t think you deserve to be there,” she said. “Just get out.”

However, House minority leader Nancy Pelosi has warned against Democratic efforts to impeach Mr Trump, saying it would end up harming the party before the midterms.

“On the political side I think it’s a gift to the Republicans,” she said on Thursday. “We want to talk about what they’re doing to undermine working families in our country, and what we are doing to increase their payrolls and lower their costs.”

A Quinnipiac poll released last Thursday showed that if Democrats win control of the House, more than 70 per cent of their supporters want them to begin impeachment proceedings.

Yet for all the talk of a Democratic wave in November, it is far from clear they will get the votes to seize the House. Many observers believe there is a better chance to take control of the Senate.

Amy Walter of The Cook Political Report recently wrote: “If a so-called ‘blue wave’ is about to hit in 2018, why isn’t the generic ballot showing a bigger margin for Democrats?

“The latest Real Clear Politics average shows Democrats with a 6.5 per cent lead. The FiveThirtyEight.com average has Democrats with a 6.9 per cent lead. If Democrats are cruising to victory in the fall, why does the generic not look more like it did over the summer when it showed Democrats with a double-digit lead?”

Ms Walter believes that while some Republicans may feel disgruntled with Mr Trump, many are “coming home” to the party and will vote Republican in November. “Even in a terrible year for the GOP, they are not going to perform much worse in the national vote than 43-44 per cent,” she wrote, saying a deciding factor could be independent voters.

In Michigan, Mr Trump cited several Democrats who he believes will lose their seats in November – among them was Democratic senator Debbie Stabenow of Michigan.

After saying Ms Stabenow was standing in the way of protecting US borders and had voted against tax cuts, Mr Trump said: “And you people just keep putting her back again and again and again. It’s your fault.”

Earlier on Saturday, Mr Trump had tweeted criticism of Democratic senator Jon Tester of Montana over his role in the failed nomination of White House doctor Ronny Jackson to run the Department of Veterans Affairs, calling for Mr Tester to resign or at least not be re-elected in November.

It was reported that Mr Trump railed against the allegations Mr Tester aired against Mr Jackson, and suggested that he could take a similar tack against the senator.

He added: “I know things about Tester that I could say too. And if I said ’em, he’d never be elected again.”