A Historic Second Impeachment

The US House of Representatives voted tonight on House Resolution no. 40, to impeach President Trump for “incitement of insurrection”. All 222 Democrats and 10 Republicans voted in support of the impeachment, 197 Republicans opposed the resolution. Four Members of Congress refrained from casting their vote. This makes Trump’s presidency historic in yet another way, by making him the first president to be impeached twice.

There was a lengthy debate on the House Floor in which the Democrats denounced the President’s actions and language in the events unfolding on January 6, as well as in the months leading up to that and in the week since. In particular they pointed out the President’s and several Republican politicians’ refusal to accept the 2020 election results and their many attempts at finding ways to contest the results, both through legal and more questionable means. Many Republicans defended the President, although most denounced the actual events of last Wednesday. Republican Congresswoman Liz Cheney was applauded for her statement released yesterday in support of the impeachment process, in which she said that “[t]here has never been a greater betrayal by a President of the United States of his office and his oath to the Constitution”.

Many Republicans asked during the debate for due process to be followed instead of such a rushed impeachment before the criminal investigations are even completed. Some Republicans even compared the events of 1/6, an event generally agreed upon as an attack on the democratic process and thus also the Constitution, to the protests that have taken place across the country during 2020 in response to the many killings of Black people. Most Republicans touted a call for unity instead of impeachment, claiming that an impeachment will further divide the American society in a time when they should focus on mending fences. That is quite a convenient claim after having spent the last two months fueling the division by calling the election results, the most democratic way for people to make their voices heard, into question.

The impeachment will now proceed to the Senate for a trial, and a conviction will require a 2/3 majority. Current Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell so far seems unwilling to call the Senate into session early, as they are currently on a break until January 19. Thus the impeachment process will probably start after President-elect Biden’s inauguration when the Senate will be tied between Republicans and Democrats, with the Democrats being in majority since the Vice President-elect will have the tiebreaking vote.

A good question is “why bother” if the impeachment trial happens after Trump’s presidency has ended. The prudent answer is “principle”. Should words matter, or is there no limitation to the First Amendment, regardless of consequences? Or is this simply a vendetta and a pathway to stop Trump from ever holding a public office ever again?

This New York Times article puts today’s House vote in context, identifying which representative voted in today’s session, compared to who voted to call on Vice President Pence to invoke the 25th Amendment yesterday and who objected to the January 6 certification of the 2020 election results.