MURRAY — Utah Congressman Chris Stewart’s argument against impeaching President Donald Trump wasn’t worth much to some Murray High School students watching the U.S. House debate Wednesday.
“I wouldn’t trade him for a corn chip,” McKenna Moeinvaziri said to no one in particular from the back row of her AP government class.
Most students in the room weren’t buying much of anything the Republicans were saying as representative after representative appeared on the screen stating his or her case.
In fact, if Mr. Durfey’s diverse class of mostly seniors were House members, Trump wouldn’t stand a chance of dodging impeachment. A mock vote showed 24 in favor, two against and two undecided. Fewer, but still a majority, would take the next step to send the president packing from the White House.
Students favoring impeachment cited abuse of power, obstruction of justice and election interference — trying to get rid of a 2020 presidential competitor — among their reasons.
“I think using your authority and power for any personal gain is wrong, is morally wrong, and that’s grounds for impeachment,” Owen Graham said.
Trump faces two articles of impeachment. One charges him with abuse of power by pressuring Ukraine to investigate Democrats, including potential 2020 presidential rival Joe Biden. The other says he obstructed Congress by ordering his administration to defy House investigators’ subpoenas and requests for documents.
“He’s definitely afraid of Biden,” said James Delliskave, adding he believes moderate Republicans would favor the former vice president over Trump in an election.




Murray, a city of about 50,00 people just south of Salt Lake City, leans Democratic. Rep. Ben McAdams, Utah’s lone Democrat in Congress and the state’s only vote for impeachment, represents the area. The city’s state legislators are Democrats.
Michael Stout and Thomas Fetzer were the only two students in the Murray High class who don’t want to see Trump impeached.
“I just don’t think that it was a high crime or misdemeanor,” Fetzer said. “I don’t think it is worth impeaching him because he didn’t receive any reward.”
Though Heather Bernstein favors impeachment “on principle,” she wouldn’t go so far as to remove the president from office. Impeachment, she said, would be a “check on his ego” if he were to win reelection.
Students in Durfey’s class have also tuned into impeachment hearings the past few weeks as well, though like many observers they’ve grown tired of what Graham called the verbal tug of war. They freely expressed their contrasting views without rancor while watching, and some said they enjoy trying to understand views that oppose their own.
“Everything kind of gets restated and everyone says everything in just slightly different ways. Both sides have strong points and then kind of just filler,” he said.
Stout said both sides have made good points and bad points, though he doesn’t believe Democrats were out to get Trump from his first day in office.
“I don’t think it was premeditated because I just assume everyone is good at heart. But I would definitely say there have been a couple of times where they’ve gone off and I’m like, ‘That’s not quite true. That’s something that’s just made up,’” he said.
Stout said he supports the president because he has made headway with North Korea and improved the economy. If Trump were to be removed, Vice President Mike Pence would continue the agenda, he said.
The historical significance of impeachment isn’t lost on the students, who weren’t yet born the last time the House impeached a president in 1998.
Delliskave said it would go down as a defining moment in American politics.
“I think because it is a completely partisan impeachment, it’s different from other impeachments,” Bernstein said. “I think we’ll look back on this and say maybe it went well, maybe it didn’t but because it was partisan, it will be very historical.”