Unimpressed With the Debate, Trump Offers a New Conspiracy for Impeachment

Dire predictions if “any of these clowns became President!”

Brian Cahn/ZUMA

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President Donald Trump is claiming to be unimpressed with his Democratic challengers after Tuesday’s presidential debate in Ohio. But never one to decline an opportunity to bash his rivals or push a wild conspiracy theory, the president took to Twitter Wednesday morning and linked what he considered lackluster performances to the rationale for Democrats’ impeachment inquiry.

The current impeachment investigation has a very clear, if not overly narrow rationale: It is centered on his efforts to coerce a foreign power into digging political dirt into Democrats. Nevertheless, the president continued to rail against the inquiry Wednesday morning and claim that the economy would tank if any of his Democratic opponents defeated him.

But perhaps what’s most noteworthy about Trump’s post-debate ramblings is what he didn’t say. Tuesday’s debate was the first since the impeachment probe was launched, and therefore the first debate appearance by Joe Biden since becoming one of the central figures in that very investigation. So why isn’t Trump tearing into Biden? Maybe like the rest of the Democratic primary, Trump’s calculus has moved on.

DONALD TRUMP & DEMOCRACY

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DONALD TRUMP & DEMOCRACY

Mother Jones was founded to do journalism differently. We stand for justice and democracy. We reject false equivalence. We go after stories others don’t. We’re a nonprofit newsroom, because the kind of truth-telling investigations we do doesn’t happen under corporate ownership.

And we need your support like never before, to fight back against the existential threats American democracy faces. Fundraising for nonprofit media is always a challenge, and we need all hands on deck right now. We have no cushion; we leave it all on the field.

It’s reader support that enables Mother Jones to report the facts that are too difficult, expensive, or inconvenient for other news outlets to uncover. Please help with a donation today if you can—even a few bucks will make a real difference. A monthly gift would be incredible.

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