HANCOCK COUNTY — It was a decidedly different atmosphere under the Golden Arches for Bill Garst than it was under the U.S. Capitol dome Wednesday for members of Congress.
The Fortville area farmer and his wife, Stephanie, were getting lunch at McDonald’s in Mt. Comfort with several of their grandchildren after catching a nearby farm show.
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Click here to purchase photos from this galleryAs with many in Hancock County, however, the debate that raged in Washington over impeaching President Donald Trump wasn’t too far form Garst’s thoughts.
Garst said he thinks the matter is “very political.” While he feels Trump hasn’t been perfect, he doesn’t think the president deserves actions that House Democrats have been pursuing.
“I think some of the stuff he’s done is probably wrong, but to be impeached for it? Probably not,” he said.
Damon Ormsby, who was enjoying lunch at a table not far from Garst and his family, called Democrats’ pursuit petty and a waste of taxpayers’ money.
“They don’t have solid evidence on anything, from what I’ve seen,” he said.
Another diner, Chris Carter, said Trump’s request that Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy investigate political rival Joe Biden with military aid on the line is hardly an impeachable offense.
He feels Democrats are chasing a senseless vendetta.
“If I don’t like you, I’m going to cry about it until I get my way,” he said, characterizing the party.
Across the restaurant, Tricia Rigney called the impeachment proceedings “ridiculous,” and a waste of time and public funds. The accusations against Trump are “totally unfounded,” she continued, adding they constitute a fruitless attempt from Democrats to win the upcoming presidential election.
“This country’s lost its mind,” she said.
Trump was voted into office and needs to be left alone, Matt Enriquez said as he enjoyed his hamburger.
“All the Democrats are doing is hurting themselves,” he said.
Dee Duncan, sitting across from him, called it “a sad situation.”
“Do I like the guy? No,” she said of Trump. “But do I agree with the impeachment? No, I do not.”
Jim Matthews, a Greenfield resident, muted Wednesday’s hearings on his TV to tell the Daily Reporter by phone about the misgivings he’s left with concerning both of the country’s major political parties.
“Republicans are obviously wrong,” he said. “Trump is not fit to be president of the United States. He’s not fit to be president of a dog house.”
Matthews, a former licensed clinical social worker who worked in community mental health, thinks Trump shows signs of personality disorders.
“He doesn’t know how to be honest,” Matthews said. “He doesn’t know how to administer a democratic government. He’s administrating as a dictator. He’s clearly guilty of all kinds of things and has been since day one. Obviously he’s been guilty of things prior to that. We can only deal with what he’s done since he became president.”
Matthews thinks the way Democrats are going about the impeachment, however, is nothing more than “political theater.”
“They have no more ability to prosecute this than the average fifth-grader,” Matthews said.
Democrats are grandstanding when they should be addressing issues and focusing more on testimony showing Trump had done wrong, he continued.
“Really, neither party has done well with this process,” he said.
Randy Johnson, Hancock County Democratic Party chair, said he not only feels what Trump is accused of is impeachable, but that findings in special counsel Robert Mueller’s report on the investigation into Russian interference in the 2016 Election merit impeachment as well.
“The facts in this one seem pretty strong to me,” Johnson said. “From my point of view, it’s pretty clear.”
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