"This lawless, partisan impeachment is a political suicide march for the Democrat Party," Trump told a rollicking rally for his re-election campaign in Michigan on Wednesday just as the Democratic-controlled House of Representatives voted to impeach him.

The vote, while along party lines, cast a cloud over the image-conscious Trump, putting him in a category as one of only four presidents out of 45 who have faced possible ouster through impeachment.

Only one, Richard Nixon, actually left office and did so before a House impeachment vote occurred.

Assurances from Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell that the Republican-controlled Senate will not convict him in a trial early next year were something of a cold comfort for Trump, who has frequently complained the "nasty" word of impeachment was being associated with him.

In Michigan, a state that helped carry him to victory in 2016 and will be critical next November, Trump expressed pride that Republicans in the House were united in opposition to impeachment and that three Democrats had also voted against it.

He said House Speaker Nancy Pelosi and Democrats had given themselves an "eternal mark of shame." Tens of millions of people will show up next year to overturn Democratic control of the House and "vote Pelosi the hell out of office," he said.

"They're the ones who should be impeached, every one of them," he said of Democrats.

He lashed out at many Democrats by name and even suggested one former lawmaker from Michigan, Representative John Dingell, did not go to heaven when he died.

That remark drew a rebuke from his widow, Representative Debbie Dingell, also a Democrat.

"Mr. President, let's set politics aside," she wrote in a tweet. "I'm preparing for the first holiday season without the man I love. You brought me down in a way you can never imagine and your hurtful words just made my healing much harder."

Scheduled weeks ago, the rally just happened to take place on the day of the House vote.

Supporters in the crowd gave no sign their enthusiasm for him had waned. "Four more years!" they chanted.

Trump's case now goes to the Senate, where McConnell has vowed impeachment will die. McConnell, a close Trump ally, plans a trial in early January and has assured the White House the necessary 67 votes from the 100-senator chamber will not be there to convict him and remove him from office.

The president has been described by aides and advisers as unhappy about the impeachment imbroglio but feeling it will provide some political dividends as he celebrates trade deals with China and Mexico and Canada that stand to boost the US economy.

A balm for Trump have been opinion polls showing his job approval rating on the rise and the popularity of impeachment on the wane.

Australian Associated Press