He voted to impeach Trump. Did it kill his career?

Post Reports

The Washington Post

Daily News, Politics, News

4.4 • 5.1K Ratings

🗓️ 1 August 2022

⏱️ 33 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

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Summary

Rep. Peter Meijer was one of 10 Republicans who voted to impeach Trump, but back in his district a right-wing base on the rise hopes to punish him for his vote.

Less than two weeks after arriving in Congress, one of Republican Rep. Peter Meijer’s first votes was to impeach former president Donald Trump after the events of January 6, 2021.

Now, Meijer is fighting for his seat back home in his western Michigan district where supporters of the former president have mobilized in staunch opposition to the congressman. And despite bucking his party to stand with Democrats in impeaching Trump, Democrats trying to flip his seat blue have interfered in the primary to boost his opponent in the hopes of facing an easier opponent in the fall.

Today on Post Reports, politics producer Arjun Singh takes us to western Michigan to understand the stakes of this Republican primary and explore just how strong Meijer’s opposition really is.

Help us learn a little more about our listeners and take The Washington Post’s podcast survey here.

Transcript

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1:03.0	So we had our involuntary change of employment, if you will, in January of 2021.
1:10.0	And I was planning to become a regular person again and stop getting attacked by CNN like they've been doing since 2018.
1:16.0	And get a regular job like a regular person and not be involved in the political ruminant more.
1:21.0	But then some friends said, dude, Peter Meyer just voted on Pete Trump. Why don't you go back home and run against him?
1:26.0	Yes.
1:27.0	I said, okay, that's kind of a big thing. Let me think about that and get my ducks in a row and pray about that.
1:32.0	And I decided I've been in the fray for four years already, so I might as well jump in again.
1:37.0	In Western Michigan, former Trump administration official John Gibbs is on a mission.
1:47.0	He wants to take down one of the 10 Republican House members who voted to impeach Donald Trump, Congressman Peter Meyer.
1:53.0	It's a contest that is pitting Trump against the GOP establishment. But it's also a test case.
2:00.0	A test to see whether the insurgent right wing in Western Michigan can bring down the air to a famous Michigan family.
2:07.0	And it's a test for the rest of the Republican Party.
2:10.0	This Meyer thought he was going to get some free publicity. Hopefully that fake vote will cost him the election.
	...

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