Donald Trump creates history by becoming the first US president to be impeached twice

Well, one person that can’t stay off headlines for a long time definitely has to be Donald Trump. And oh, not in headlines for good reasons, at all. Be it hilariously shady presidential debate or his embarrassing way of handling defeat, former US president knows how to not be a good sport. Did we forget to mention his impeachments? Yes, two impeachments. Along with making headlines, Donald Trump also made history. Donald Trump became the first, and hopefully the only, US president to be impeached twice during their term.
His second impeachment came in after being formally charged with ‘inciting an insurrection’ a week after pro-Trump citizens flooded the US capitol building as a violent mob. The charge under conviction, incitement of insurrection, came as an aftermath of Donald Trump’s fiery speech to a large group of people hours before the mob rampaged through the US Capitol building. Ironically, in a ‘Save America March’, Donald Trump addressed his supporters in Washington in early January and, as reports suggest, directed them towards the Capitol building.
The violence that occurred as a result of Trump-supporting protestors smashing Capitol building windows, throwing across barricades, destroying property and brawling with defence guards and police personnel, resulted in the death of 5 people.
The house of representatives voted 232-197 for the historic impeachment of the former president, Donald Trump. Considering Trump’s presence to be a clear and present danger, 10 republicans, during this historic event, joined Democrats in unequivocally pointing that Donald Trump needs to be held accountable for his controversial speech and inciting insurrection. Even the republicans that voted against the impeachment didn’t mostly resort to defend Donald Trump’s name and contribution in the incident but instead challenged the conduct of impeachment stating that it had bypassed the customary hearings and argued democrats to drop it in the name of national unity.
The worse part of this impeachment came in once the voting got over after the 10 republicans voted to impeach Donald Trump started receiving threat calls and violent warnings. Even after claiming the vote being a by-product of conscience, the third-ranking House Republican, congresswoman Liz Cheney, faced pressure and threats to resign from her position of the leadership role at the party. This constitutional crisis in the United States of America has stooped below levels that were imagined by the world. The other 9 Republicans that voted in favour of Donald Trump’s impeachment have been receiving threats of violence. According to a statement issued by one such Republican, he said they had to purchase extra body armour and are forced to change their normal routines owing to a threat to their safety. Mentioning how sad this entire situation and its acknowledgement is, he said he expects nothing short of somebody trying to kill us, as per the violent threats being sent their way. Even if nothing of this sort happens, this degree of fear and hatred is highly disappointing, not just for The United States but the entire world.
The article of impeachment, presented in front of the housed of representatives, states that Donald Trump “repeatedly issued false statements asserting that the presidential election results were fraudulent and should not be accepted”.
It says he then repeated these claims and “wilfully made statements to the crowd that encouraged and foreseeably resulted in lawless action at the Capitol”
However, it doesn’t end here. Here’s how the entire impeachment process looks like. Impeachment refers only to the lower chambers of congress i.e. the house and to determine Trump’s guilt on the charge filed, a trial has to be undertaken. The charges or articles of Impeachment that were brought in the lower chamber would be presented in front of the US senate i.e. the Upper house, who would then conduct the trial to determine if Trump is guilty of the accusation. For the conviction, a two-third majority is needed, which means out of say, a 100 senators, at least 17 republicans would need to be on the democratic side to convict Trump with the charge.
As per reports cited from various sources, the aforementioned process is likely to begin after January 20, when Donald Trump steps out of the office. Before the trial begins, the charge needs to be officially transmitted to the Senate, by the house.
The trial would witness both prosecution and defence, and Donald Trump in his defence is likely to claim the first amendment of the constitution stating the freedom of speech for his remarks outside the Capitol building. As mentioned before in what his speech uncovered, his call for ‘fight’ can be defended as a figurative way to demand action and revolution, and not as a call for violence.
In an attempt to save himself whatever little hope is left, Donald Trump issued a video message after the impeachment vote took place, expressing his condemn on the capitol incident and violence. In his words, “Violence and Vandalism have absolutely no place in our country and no place in our movement.” The movement referred to here is the ‘Save America’ movement which apparently led his supporters to keep fighting for.
Now, the big question is, what happens after the impeachment? As suggested by the reports cited by scholars from the states, this impeachment is not just to remove an official from the office but also for disqualifying them from future office. This implies that the bigger reason to try Donald Trump after he leaves The White House is to disbar him from entering as an official again. As per The States’ constitution, one possible punishment from the evidence of guilt is “disqualification to hold or enjoy any office of honour, trust or profit under the United States.”
The course of events is still to be witnessed but whatever happened in the past few weeks in the World’s most developed country sent a shiver down the spine of everybody in the entire world. It’s disappointing and our hopes from the future USA and its government would be to dampen this environment of fear, hatred and divisiveness.