Trump said Democrats had 'deep hatred' for the American voter as he lashed out over his impeachment.
While the US House of Representatives was voting to impeach President Donald Trump today, the man himself was on stage at a political rally hundreds of kilometres away in Michigan.
Trump spoke to supporters for just a smidgen over two hours, ending up one minute short of his longest ever speech as President.
He labelled the impeachment push a "political suicide march" for his Democratic opponents, saying they had "branded themselves with an eternal mark of shame".
"They shouldn't even be allowed to have an impeachment," the President said.
There isn't really a conventional playbook for dealing with impeachment. It has barely ever happened before – Bill Clinton was impeached in the late 1990s, and the only president to suffer that fate before him was Andrew Johnson all the way back in the 1800s.
Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi, flanked by House Judiciary Committee Chairman Jerrold Nadler, and House Foreign Affairs Committee Chairman Eliot Engel after the vote. AP Photo / J. Scott Applewhite
But it's worth noting that Trump has completely rejected the only template available to him – the strategy that got Clinton acquitted.
By late 1998 it was abundantly clear that Clinton had lied in an attempt to cover up his affair with White House intern Monica Lewinsky. His previous line, uttered so shamelessly, that he "did not have sexual relations with that woman" had been shattered.
Still, Clinton's first instinct after getting through a gruelling interview with investigators in August was not to apologise properly, but rather famously, to attack independent counsel Ken Starr.
"This matter is between me, the two people I love most – my wife and our daughter – and our god. I must put it right, and I am prepared to do whatever it takes to do so. Nothing is more important to me personally," he said in an address from the White House.
"But it is private, and I intend to reclaim my family life for my family. It's nobody's business but ours. Even presidents have private lives. It is time to stop the pursuit of personal destruction and prying into private lives and get on with our national life.
President Bill Clinton. File photo / Wayne Drought
"Our country has been distracted by this matter for too long, and I take my responsibility for my part in all of this. That is all I can do. Now it is time – in fact, it is past time – to move on."
To paraphrase – yes, I lied about the affair, let's move on. Not the greatest of apologies.
And it didn't work. A few months later, the House of Representatives passed two articles of impeachment – the same thing that happened to Trump today.
Eventually, Clinton concluded he had to display some proper contrition.
"It's important to me that everybody who has been hurt know that the sorrow I feel is genuine," he told a prayer breakfast.
"First and most important, my family. Also my friends, my staff, my Cabinet, Monica Lewinsky and her family, and the American people."
When Clinton's trial in the Senate was over, 45 senators voted to convict him on the first count of perjury and 50 on the second count of obstruction – both numbers well short of the 67 needed to remove him from office.
Chances are Trump will see similar vote totals when his own trial is held. The Republican Party is standing behind him, and still has a majority in the Senate.
But his route to acquittal looks to be quite different. Where Clinton eventually brought himself to admit to the lie and apologise, Trump has chosen all-out counter-attack.
The President still insists the catalyst for his impeachment – his phone call with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky – was "perfect" and he did nothing wrong.
"We did nothing wrong and we have tremendous support in the Republican Party, like we've never had before," he told today's rally.
Meanwhile, his re-election campaign released a statement labelling the impeachment push a "three-year sham".
"While the President rallied with tens of thousands of citizens in Michigan and celebrated the greatness and success of America, Democrats in DC completed their cold, calculated and concocted three-year impeachment sham and voted against 63 million Americans," it said.
Back in Congress, Republican politician Barry Loudermilk raised a few eyebrows by comparing Trump's predicament to that of Jesus when he was tried and crucified in the Bible.
"During that sham trial, Pontius Pilate afforded more rights to Jesus than Democrats have afforded this President in this process," he said.
That gives you an idea of how Trump and his party will deal with the Senate trial early next year. They have chosen all-out war.
There will be no admission of fault. Instead, they will tell voters the President is the innocent victim of a political witch hunt.
It is a gamble. Like Clinton, Trump is in a situation where the evidence appears to be very much against him.
But at the moment, his strategy certainly seems to be working.
