'Anything but Politics, Man': For Many, Impeachment Is Background Noise

So while the House of Representatives debated the impeachment of President Donald Trump on Wednesday, one man in Houston was more focused on a $279 speeding ticket. Tourists in Chicago savored an impeachment-free shopping day. Members of the Veterans of Foreign Wars Post 401 in Albuquerque followed a simple mantra: “Anything but politics, man.”

Americans may be deeply invested in the outcome, but as history played out, many of them were taking whatever opportunity they could to look elsewhere.

Judgment Day

(HOUSTON) — It was Judgment Day, but Ray Martin had no regrets about conduct or process.

Martin, 58, a building engineer, had decided to see what his newly purchased four-cylinder pickup truck could do on Interstate 45. It could do quite a bit, it turns out. He went to municipal court in Houston and accepted his $279 speeding ticket Wednesday without complaint. “I didn’t even know I was doing 110,” he said.

As for the other judgment being rendered in Washington, he had not watched any of the impeachment proceedings but said he supported the president. “I hate that he’s going through it,” Martin said. “I feel like he’s good for America right now. He’s a strong leader.”

— Manny Fernandez

Impeachment? Not on the Menu

(CHICAGO) — The tourists and office workers milling around the open-air Christmas market in downtown Chicago had a few things on their minds. Snapping up porcelain ornaments and knit gloves for last-minute Christmas gifts. Staying warm in frigid 17-degree air. Deciding whether to have a second glühwein, the hot spiced drink sipped out of tiny white mugs shaped like boots.

“Impeachment? Not something we’re talking about today,” said Gary Nadeau, from Deer Park, Illinois, who was on an excursion with his wife, Paula, and another couple.

The couples had stopped at the Christkindlmarket for wine and hot pretzels before heading to a matinee. “Have fun, see ‘Hamilton,’ have a little libation,” Nadeau said. “That’s it.”

They all agreed that Trump was likely to be reelected next year, and that being impeached would not really change anyone’s minds. “It’s all just partisan,” Leah Peszek, 54, said of the impeachment proceedings. “Seems like a waste of time.”

“He’s a jerk,” she said of Trump, “But he’s doing good for the economy.”

— Julie Bosman

Lots of TVs but Little Politics

(VILLA RICA, Ga.) — More than a dozen television screens were on at the Cinema Tavern Sports Bar & Grill, and not a single one was showing the House of Representatives debate impeachment.

One screen showed two analysts talking about the upcoming matchup between the Dallas Cowboys and Philadelphia Eagles. Another showed a replay of an NBA game.

Jamie Willis, 37, an electrician, was drinking a beer while watching one of the screens showing the Georgia Lottery’s Keno numbers. He said he preferred to catch up on news after the dust had settled. “I think people jump to conclusions too fast,” he said.

Willis leans libertarian and originally feared that Trump might be a liberal in disguise. These days, with the economy booming, he says Trump may be the best American president of his lifetime.

Beverly Parton, 71, a retired teacher, voted for Trump but said she thought he had overstepped in his dealings with Ukraine. “If he’s using his office as a springboard to defame someone else, that’s not right,” she said.

Still, Parton did not feel that she had to watch every last impeachment hearing. She read a paperback thriller instead, waiting for her popcorn shrimp to emerge from the kitchen.

— Richard Fausset

A Vote for Soccer

(GREELEY, Colo.) — The television was tuned to impeachment coverage for only 30 minutes inside the Cinco Brothers Barbershop in Greeley, Colorado, an oil and gas town where many voters support Mr. Trump’s pro-drilling energy polices.

Josue Monreal, 38, a barber, said he did not like what he called Trump’s “hatred” for Latinos and would be happy to see him impeached if the Democrats could make the charges of high crimes and misdemeanors stick. But as he watched Wednesday, he said he was not sold. “The Democrats are just crying about Trump,” Monreal said.

So: click. For the rest of the afternoon, he would watch soccer instead.

— Jack Healy

Watching ESPN, Not C-Span

(ALBUQUERQUE, N.M.) — At the Veterans of Foreign Wars Post 401 in Albuquerque, members filed in Wednesday afternoon for a $5 lunch of tacos, rice and beans. Some ordered Budweisers for $2.75. The television was tuned to ESPN, where hosts were talking football.

“Anything but politics, man,” said Miguel Perez, 36, a Marine Corps veteran from southern New Mexico who volunteers at the post when he is not working as a cook and bartender elsewhere in Albuquerque.

Perez said members of the VFW Post, near Kirtland Air Force Base, learned their lesson when tempers got heated around the 2016 presidential election. “We don’t want our guys throwing beer bottles at each other,” he said.

Going further, Perez, who grew up on the border with Mexico, said that he understood the Democrats’ arguments for impeachment but was put off by the entire process. “Personally, I’d like them to leave the guy alone,” he said. “Just let the president do his job.”

— Simon Romero

This article originally appeared in The New York Times .