On Wednesday at 9:00 AM EST, the U.S. House of Representatives, controlled by Democrats, plans to vote on an article of impeachment against President Donald Trump. The article they introduced today was for “incitement of insurrection” following last week’s riots at the U.S. Capitol. On Tuesday evening, they’ll also vote on a resolution urging Mike Pence to invoke the 25th amendment as a means to removing Trump from office.
Personally, I think the Democrats are doing the right thing here: For themselves, the Republicans, and the country. How this helps them is obvious: Trump committed an impeachable offense by using rhetoric that encouraged rabid supporters of his to go bananas and storm the Capitol. The Democrats have branded themselves as not being afraid to take on Trump and hold him accountable. By impeaching him on Wednesday, they’ll keep their base of voters happy.
By first urging Trump to resign and Pence to invoke the 25th amendment, they’re also not coming off as though they are rushing this. Their message to the White House has been “We’re putting the ball in your court for the next 72 hours but if you don’t do the right thing, we’ll snatch the ball from you and take matters into our own hands for the sake of the country.” That way when they do impeach Trump on Wednesday, they can say “Hey, there were other options on the table, but you chose to ignore them. Now we have to do this.”
There’s also the added advantage of forcing Republicans to put their money where their mouth is and actually go on record with how they’ll vote. If Republicans screw this up, they could make matters even worse for themselves than they already are.
As for how this helps the Republicans, the Democrats are giving them another opportunity to repudiate Trump. If Trump gets convicted by the Senate after inauguration day, that will allow the Senate to then, with simple majority, vote on whether or not Trump can hold federal office again. Stripping Trump of his powers to ever hold Federal office again has to appeal to the Republicans. It allows them to officially move on from him, circle the wagons, and heal as a party. So, in case you are wondering why impeachment can still work after Trump leaves office, that’s why. There’s the opportunity to formally ban him from ever holding federal office again. Something that has been done before with other federal officials who’ve been impeached after their terms are done. E.g. Judges.
As for how this helps the country, it sends a firm message to future candidates that they can’t get away with what Trump has done. That there is a line that can be crossed and that the United States of America won’t allow treason to go unpunished.
It should be interesting to see how this all shakes out. I can’t believe I’m writing about impeachment again! Crazy times for sure.