Pres. Trump is impeached days before the end of his term

The U.S. House of Representatives voted 232 to 197 to impeach President Donald Trump on Wednesday. This is the second impeachment of the president, following the first at the end of 2019, which makes President Trump the first president in American history to have been impeached twice during a four-year term. If the Senate also decides to impeach him, he will be the first-ever president to have been impeached by both the upper and lower houses. “'No one is above the law,” said House Speaker Nancy Pelosi.

The impeachment of the president whose remaining term in the office is less than a week reveals the challenging situation of the U.S. political circles, in which an abnormal person in power should be removed abnormally. There is still a trial for his impeachment where two-thirds of Senators should vote for the decision. As the trial is expected to be held after the president leaves the White House, he will complete his term for now. However, such a decision will come with the shameful disgrace of having incited a riot in the Capitol and an insurrection, a criminal charge that will be difficult to remove. There is no guarantee that the president’s impeachment will be voted down as the first one was in 2019 since 10 Republican representatives already voted for the decision.

President Trump’s not-so-beautiful exit is the result of his failure to concede the election result until the last minute and an extreme populism inciting the insurrection of his supporters. The president who has divided the country with the politics of division and incitement during his entire four years in the office broke the tradition of concession, which has been at the basis of the U.S. politics, and practically encouraged the mob to violate the Capitol. This led to rather unsightly scenes where military troops are deployed across Washington, D.C. before the inauguration of the new president on Wednesday

The Democratic Party is looking to apply the 14th Amendment of the Constitution, which bans the public officials who were involved in insurrection or rebellion from serving in public office in the future. This is to completely remove the possibility of President Trump running again for reelection four years later. However, this cannot keep his mouth closed after he steps down and he still has Ta strong support base. It may take some time to get out of the dark “Trump tunnel.” However, democracy has recovered and become even stronger by overcoming chaos and healing wounds. The U.S. needs to show its resilience with the politics of integration and coexistence.