Speaker Pelosi’s Announcement Of A Formal Impeachment Inquiry Against Trump Sparked An Online Firestorm

Hours after House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-California) told the audience at a forum hosted by The Atlantic that she would be making an announcement about a possible impeachment inquiry for President Donald Trump “later today,” she did precisely that.

“The actions of the Trump presidency revealed the dishonorable fact of the president’s betrayal of his oath of office, betrayal of our national security, and betrayal of the integrity of our elections,” Pelosi said in an official media address following a closed-door meeting of House Democrats. “Therefore, today I’m announcing the House of Representatives is moving forward with an official impeachment inquiry.”

As the New York Times notes, Pelosi’s sudden announcement on Tuesday represents a “stunning development” in the matter of impeaching Trump — an oft-discussed topic that, though it routinely trends on social media, has largely been met with caution and suspicion by senior members of Congress. However, recent developments concerning the president’s allegedly asking his Ukranian counterpart to investigate Democratic presidential candidate Joe Biden — in a situation that mirrors his apparent 2016 election tampering — have evidently swayed Pelosi and others.

Unsurprisingly, Trump railed against Pelosi’s announcement on Twitter before her remarks to the press were even finished.

The president’s characteristic Twitter rant notwithstanding, the platform had already been dominated by discussion, argument, and jokes concerning Pelosi’s impending announcement. Once the Speaker had addressed the press, though, Internet chatter concerning impeachment increased significantly. One or two were serious…

…though a lot of it, obviously, wasn’t.

https://twitter.com/morninggloria/status/1176601250638389248

https://twitter.com/ira/status/1176568506029969408

(Via Washington Post, New York Times, and CNN)