CAPITOL HILL - Two weeks of public hearings in the impeachment inquiry into President Donald Trump's dealings with Ukraine have deepened the already sharp divide between Democrats and Republicans and have prompted many lawmakers to place more of a premium on party loyalty than the quality of testimony, some political analysts say.
With 2020 presidential and congressional elections looming, the stakes couldn't be higher for the two parties. And lawmakers are adhering closely to the guidance of their party leaders.
In the recent U.S. House vote setting procedures for the public phase of the impeachment inquiry, not a single Republican defected to vote with the Democrats in favor of formalizing the inquiry. Only two Democrats voted against it.
Those numbers are in stark contrast to the 1998 vote formalizing the impeachment inquiry of then-Democratic President Bill Clinton. In that vote, 31 members of the president's own party agreed with his Republican opponents' decision to launch the investigation.
Since the start of the public phase of the inquiry into whether Trump tried to pressure the Ukrainian government into announcing an investigation of Vice President Joe Biden and his son, Hunter, while withholding nearly $400 million of military aid to Ukraine, Democrats and Republicans seemingly have operated in parallel universes. Testimony has been twisted into competing narratives.
Wednesday's testimony by Gordon Sondland, U.S ambassador to the European Union, illustrated this point.
House Democrats hailed Sondland's testimony that linked Trump, Vice President Mike Pence, Secretary of State Mike Pompeo and others to a campaign to pressure Ukraine's new president to announce an investigation of Biden in return for a White House meeting and the release of the military aid.
Meanwhile, Republicans and Trump insisted that Sondland had cleared Trump of seeking a quid pro quo with Ukraine.
Both parties are fundraising robustly off the impeachment inquiry, sending floods of email to supporters in anticipation of impeachment becoming a central issue that mobilizes voters in the upcoming election.
Democratic and Republican lawmakers would argue they are acting according to conscience, not political expediency. But impeachment is not a legal trial but an inherently political process in which the framers of the U.S. Constitution invested the responsibility of impeachment in the legislative body of government.
House Speaker Nancy Pelosi of California has said Democrats entered the impeachment inquiry in a "prayerful" way, mindful of their oath to uphold the U.S. Constitution. Trump accused Democrats of launching the inquiry because they feared losing in the 2020 presidential election.
Pelosi has repeatedly said Democrats see impeachment as a last resort that is part of their oversight responsibilities.
Democrats who control the House have tried to maintain an attitude of remaining above the political fray.
"This is a very sad time for our country. There is no joy in this," Pelosi said.
Representative Jim McGovern of Massachusetts, author of the impeachment inquiry legislation, said, "We are not here in some partisan exercise. There is serious evidence that President Trump may have violated the Constitution."
Republicans have characterized the inquiry not only as an attempt to cripple Trump's political fortunes but also as a "coup" or an effort to nullify the results of the 2016 presidential election.
Representative Devin Nunes of California, the ranking Republican member on the House Intelligence Committee conducting the public hearings, regularly accuses Democrats of politicizing the process.
"Democrats have exploited the Intelligence Committee for political purposes for three years, culminating in these impeaching hearings. In their mania to attack the president, no conspiracy theory is too outlandish for the Democrats," Nunes said in his opening statement for the Nov. 20 hearing.
High-profile lawmakers on both sides often appear to be looking for a social media-friendly moment that supporters can amplify.
The Trump War Room Twitter account rebuts the hearings in real time with memes, while users who identify as part of the Democratic "Blue Wave" from the 2018 midterm election fight back. This deepens the perception there are two entrenched political perspectives with no room to meet in the middle.
The online war is reflected in real life by alliances of some of the nation's top political groups. On the conservative side, groups such as the Club for Growth and FreedomWorks have joined forces to raise money and public outcry against impeachment, according to .