Impeached Again: Trump Impeached for a 2nd Time

President Donald Trump has become the first president (and first-ever federal official for that matter too) in history to be impeached by the House of Representatives for a second time, this time for “incitement of insurrection.” In the most bipartisan impeachment ever, 10 Republicans bucked the party line and voted to impeach a president from their own party.

The House voted Wednesday 232 to 197 to impeach the president one week after a violent insurrection took place at the Capitol Building. Every single Democrat voted to impeach Trump, and 10 Republicans voted to impeach him too. (Four Republicans abstained from voting).

The 10 House Republicans that voted to impeach are Reps. Liz Cheney of Wyoming and the chair of the House Republican Conference, Anthony Gonzalez of Ohio, Jaime Herrera Beutler and Dan Newhouse of Washington, John Katko of New York, Adam Kinzinger of Illinois, Peter Meijer and Fred Upton of Michigan, Tom Rice of South Carolina, and David Valadao of California.

Cheney, the third most powerful Republican in the House and representing one of the country’s reddest states, said, “There has never been a greater betrayal by a President of the United States of his office and his oath to the constitution.” She voted against impeaching Trump in 2019.

Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi, D-Calif., called Trump a “clear and present danger to the nation that we all love,” and that “he must go.”

The historical speed of only the fourth presidential impeachment in American history—of which Donald Trump’s impeachments now account for half of that total—indicated the extent to which lawmakers, especially Democrats, were furious at the president for inciting a riot and put the dangers of both the vice president and members of Congress in danger. Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, D-N.Y., said she believed that members “narrowly escaped death” on that fateful day.

For the Republicans, though, the impeachment vote casts a deep divide within their party. Rep. Kevin McCarthy, R-Calif., the House Minority Leader and a staunch Trump ally who voted to reject the presidential results in Arizona and Pennsylvania, said although Trump bears some responsibility for last week’s insurrection, he believes that impeachment “would be a mistake.” This is despite a number of Republicans voting to impeach the president.

The Democrats’ unity in pursuing impeachment stands in stark contrast to President Trump’s first impeachment, when not all Democrats backed impeachment, while all Republicans opposed it.

With the Senate not expected to be back in session until Jan. 19, the impeachment trial in the Senate will likely be conducted under a Democratic Senate majority. It remains to be seen whether or not enough Senate Republicans—17 to be exact—will cross aisles and vote to impeach Donald Trump, who will be a former president at that time. Since a guilty impeachment in the Senate will only occur once Trump leaves office, though, more Republicans might back impeachment just to stop the president from running again in four years’ time.

Also, a number of Republican senators who aren’t up for reelection in the next cycle might also decide to back impeachment since it is likely in four or six years’ time, there will be larger issues to talk about than whether or not they chose to convict a president who is already out of office. Thus, this impeachment may be less of the partisan affair we saw in the previous impeachment.

The Democratic Senate majority, which will form once Sens.-elect Raphael Warnock and Jon Ossoff, both D-Ga., are sworn in and Vice President-elect Kamala Harris takes office, giving Democrats a 50-seat majority and a tiebreaker vote, will need to carefully balance holding an impeachment trial while also confirming President-elect Joe Biden’s cabinet and political appointees and passing crucial new bills, like COVID-19 stimulus, at a time when America is deeply divided and reeling the effects of a deadly once-in-a-century pandemic.

Since the insurrection, Trump and the pro-Trump wing of the GOP has seen a major rebuke from the general public. Dozens of big corporations decided to suspend political contributions to Republicans who voted against certification of Biden’s victory. The PGA Championship decided to move the 2022 championship away from one of Trump’s golf courses. New York City has decided to terminate all of its contracts with the Trump Organization. The lawyers who defended Trump back in 2019 aren’t expected to help him this time, with Rudy Giuliani, a polarizing figure, possibly defending him instead.

Had Trump admitted to losing the election back when the election was called on Nov. 7, or even after the Electoral College voted in December, the insurrection would never have happened, and there wouldn’t have been a huge rebuke against Trump by even big companies, generally seen as apolitical. The GOP would probably have been less deeply divided, and he might even have a serious shot of rerunning again in 2024. However, his actions have proved him unfit to hold the office of the President of the United States, and he must thus be impeached, convicted, and barred from ever running again.

Accountability is the only way America can reunite. For that to happen, this president must be convicted in the Senate.