The worst-kept surprise of the last three months is here, Trump is now the 3rd-ever President of the US to be impeached. There, he can add that to his list of titles. Impeachment, however, is not the end, only the beginning.
I have been talking about this for a long time, and have said that most people think impeachment means removal. They fail understand that it’s really only the beginning of a long, and dramatic process. Impeachment is akin to an indictment. It is a formal charge of a crime. In this particular impeachment, Trump is being charged with 2 crimes, or articles of impeachment; 1. Abuse of Power and 2. Obstruction of Congress.
Those two articles were put up for a vote yesterday in the house of representatives. By the end of the voting, the two resolutions (articles of impeachment) were passed 232 for and 196 against. As expected, the resolutions were passed straight through party lines, though it is important to note two democratic representatives voted against, two New Jersey representatives.
So now what? Well, not much this year. The senate is preparing for a trial in the beginning of the year. McConnell, the majority leader of the senate, said he expects to get started in January. This means it is up to Pelosi to send the newly passed resolutions to the Senate for McConnell to begin.
Will Trump get removed from office? I doubt it. The deck is stacked too high against removal. At most, he may get reprimanded, though he’s most likely to escape unscathed. There is one option left for Pelosi to push for a fairer trial, and that it to hold off on sending the resolutions to the senate. By holding up the resolutions, Pelosi could sense the will of the people for removal instead of handing the power over to the senate now.
I have to be honest with you all. I am depressed. I really believe Trump is the worst thing that could happen to our democracy. Trump’s lack of any type of decency and narcissistic personality means he literally hears and sees what he wants. This means that our set of tools to fight this type of corruption and bugs in our system will not work. Trump will remain in office until he wants. The only option we have is for him to lose the election by a large majority. Losing will not make Trump give up the Presidency, but it would force his Republican accomplices to back away or even pressure him to leave. Anything else will be just another form of torture to our democracy.
