Never before has a sitting or former president of the United States been impeached by the House of Representatives and put on trial by the Senate twice. However, this is the only significant aspect of the second impeachment of former President Donald Trump.
Since the U.S Capitol Riot that occurred on January 6th, President Trump has been the target of arguably more criticism than at any point during his presidency. The basis of these attacks on the former president is that through his claims of widespread voter fraud and the election being “stolen” from him, Trump incited the violence that occured in Washington, D.C. killing five American citizens. Soon thereafter, Articles of Impeachment were drafted in the House of Representatives aiming at “punishing” President Trump even further.
The Capitol Riot of January 6th proved to be a stain on Trump, but efforts were also made to tie the entirety of the Republican Party to the rioters. The Democrats’ goal moving forward with another impeachment of Trump was to force Republicans to vote on removing the leader of the Republican Party from power. While it was obvious from the start that they wouldn’t have enough votes in the Senate to convict Trump, Democrats and the mainstream media wanted to frame any Republican that voted against impeachment as siding with the rioters and imply they too were committing treason.
Despite their efforts, however, Democrats and their media allies forgot one important detail—the country is in the midst of an unprecedented pandemic.
While Trump’s opponents attempted to pin the Capitol Riot on the GOP, droves of working American families struggled to endure the hardships brought upon them by the COVID lockdowns. Democrats promised Americans a $2,000 stimulus check as soon as they got control of Congress and the presidency. However, that Democrat-controlled Congress instead decided to spend it’s valuable time impeaching and attempting to convict a president that had already left office.
This highlights perhaps the most important point. Come 2022 and 2024, when Democrats try to remind the American people of the Capitol Riot and tie it to all Republicans, the GOP response is simply going to be that the left focused on getting revenge and impeaching a former president rather than providing relief to the American people during a pandemic.
Therein lies the insignificance of Trump’s second impeachment trial. While it was surely a historical uniquity, the ramifications of it will ultimately prove two things: it watered down the significance of the impeachment process, and that the politicians in Washington D.C would rather put on a political charade than help the American people.
The views expressed in this article are the opinion of the author and do not necessarily reflect those of Lone Conservative staff.