President Donald Trump Picture: Andrew Harnik/AP/African News Agency (ANA)

Flint, Michigan/Bethlehem, Pennsylvania – As the first televised hearing of the impeachment probe unfolded on Wednesday on the screen in his home in Flint, Michigan, Quincy Murphy said there was no chance the proceedings would alter his view that President Donald Trump is unfit to hold the office.

“I watch it in disgust,” said the 45-year-old autoworker, who voted for Democrat Hillary Clinton in 2016. “I haven’t found anything to convince me that he is doing what’s best for this country.”

More than 450 miles (725 km) away in his Bethlehem, Pennsylvania, barbershop, Trump backer Joe D’Ambrosio was equally adamant that the inquiry into whether the Republican president improperly pressured Ukraine to investigate a political rival would have no effect on his opinion.

“I fully support the president,” said D’Ambrosio, 76, as a mounted television showed the hearing live on Fox News. “I talk to a lot of people who are happy with their 401(k)s (retirement plans), their stocks and their jobs. Democrats don’t want to talk about that, and I think they are going to pay a price.”

Democrats in the US House of Representatives hope a series of televised hearings will help persuade Americans that Trump deserves to be ousted from office.