How will impeachment effect Trump's 2020 presidential election?
Dialogue with Yang Rui
00:34

The U.S. House of Representatives launched landmark hearings last week, as Donald Trump became just the fourth president in U.S. history to be subjected to an impeachment inquiry.

This week promises even more fireworks, as the Democrat-controlled House calls forward more government officials to testify – while Republicans feverishly defend – the 45th U.S. president from his potential ouster from office.

How are the public hearings impacting the Trump Presidency, so far? And will President Trump be ousted from the Oval Office through impeachment?

Professor John Gong, from University of International Business and Economics, gives a negative answer to those questions. "I am a little bit skeptical that he will be impeached out of office as we all know that the Democrats need 20 votes from the Republicans in the Senate to have enough votes to vote Trump out through the impeachment process. I think they don't have the votes right now."

"And the Republicans will defend him all the way because they don't have an alternative candidate. If they abandon President Trump, they don't have a really alternative and viable candidate who can run presidential race at this point. So I think they are going to stay with Trump as it has always been," Gong added.

But Einar Tangen, a current affairs commentator, holds an opposite opinion that at certain point, when the polls start turning against Donald Trump, they might be willing to save the party and abandon Trump."

When discussing the question of to what extent the impeachment process will impact the public support on President Trump in the presidential election, Gong emphasized that "There are around 40 percent of American voters, most of them are Republicans. No matter what Trump does, they will always vote him," as Trump represents those people's core interest.

However, Tangen doesn't agree with that point.

"Today, two largest coal fire plants closed down. He promised to make coal a number one issue and bring coal towns back. (But) they have not come back. He promised that farmers will enjoy a bounty. (But) they are not filling it. Some of them are going bankrupt. I don't know that they are going to vote for Donald Trump. That 32 percent of support is not enough to put him back to office," said Tangen.

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Dialogue with Yang Rui is a prime time daily English talk show on CGTN. The 30-minute talk show covers a wide range of domestic and international topics, providing a balanced and critical perspective on current affairs and analysis within the framework of cross-cultural and multi-disciplinary comparisons. 

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