impeachment process of Donald Trump

impeachment process of Donald Trump

For the third time in the history of the United States, a sitting president was on trial just recently after an impeachment. The impeachment of President Donald Trump took place on December 18, 2019, when the House of Representatives that is mostly controlled by Democrats approved the articles of impeachment. The charges that instigated the impeachment were obstruction of Congress and abuse of power. However, the president was acquitted of all charges by the Senate that is Republican-controlled on February 5, 2020. The impeachment of the 45th president of the United States began after there was an allegation by the formal House Inquiry that he had solicited interference from foreign powers in the run-up to the 2020 presidential election. Additionally, Trump was alleged to have obstructed the inquiry itself after he told officials in his administration to ignore important testimony and subpoenas for documents. Besides, he was reported to have withheld military aid to Ukraine until the country launched an investigation into one of the political opponents, Joe Biden, and promote a conspiracy theory that discredited the assertion that it was Russia that was behind the interference of the presidential election in 2016. One significant aspect of the impeachment process of Donald Trump is that it got more votes than the previous processes that have occurred in American history. However, it significantly shed light on the partisan nature of the process.

The impeachment process has been mostly partisan, with representatives voting along party lines. In the most recent case, no Republican broke ranks, while only two Democrats voted against the article on abuse of power. Three Democrats voted against the allegation of obstruction of Congress. However, a former Republican, now independent, voted in favor of the impeachment on both charges. It is prudent to note that the inception of partisanship in the United States politics goes back decades (Dershowitz, 3). In 1998, for instance, only a handful of Democrats voted for the impeachment of Bill Clinton. In 1974, it was the Republicans who put pressure on Richard Nixon to resign before the House impeached him. Since these instances, the political landscape of the nation has changed remarkably. The leaders seem to be growing more partisan, as fewer people are no longer persuaded by the elections (Petersen, 57). Democrats and Republicans seem to perceive each other in an increasingly nastier point. Besides, Americans are also getting drawn in the tag-o-war by mostly choosing to align themselves with people who share commonalities with them. The partisanship is ripping apart the fabric that describes what it means to be an American.

Perhaps one significant aspect of the impeachment of Trump is that it exposed the impasse that exists between a Democratic-controlled House of Representatives and a Republican-led Congress (Fein, Bonifaz, and Clements, 7). As the Senate was billed to lead the trial of Donald Trump in his impeachment, they were faced with a bitter fight whether to allow witnesses to testify in the trial or add new documents as part of the trial. Besides, the Republican-led Senate had to contend with the decision as to whether to rely on the information collected by the Democrat-led House of Representatives and a rebuttal from White House pushing for the acquittal of the president. The voting in both houses was done along party lines with only two Democrats opposing and no Republican favoring the impeachment. Eventually, the partisan impeachment process was regulated by the comparative strengths of the parties rather than become a real demonstration of either innocence or guilt on the part of the accused. Besides, the tools of impeachment provided by the constitution were wielded by the most numerous and cunning faction. Consequently, it lacked the requisite of neutrality towards the individuals whose conduct was the subject of the scrutiny.

It is prudent to note that impeachment is a political tool that should only be applied when certain constitutional criteria are met. These asserted criteria are limited and include allegations of bribery, treason, or other crimes and misdemeanors that are considered of a higher degree. These are crimes that are considered to be of a nature that may lead to immediate injuries to the society itself, especially with peculiar propriety and political inclinations. However, the failure to procure a successful impeachment in the history of the United States indicates that the process should only be political in a partisan sense. The crimes prescribed in the criteria are mostly constitutional (Tomoszek, 133). This implies that while the process is primarily political, it should remain scrupulously nonpartisan and neutral, especially among the members of the Congress. No impeachment can move forward without any apparent bipartisan support. This, however, seems to be a rather tall order in the modern American society that is politically hyperpartisan and where party loyalty leaves little or no room for neutrality among the populace (Greabe, 20). In the impeachment, the vote of the House was mostly about procedures and not the assertion of innocence or guilt of the president. Perhaps any further investigation and nonpartisanship may have persuaded the Republicans in the Congress to consider principle over party and voted for the impeachment. It may also have influenced some Democrats to vote against the process. The House vote that was mostly partisan made nonpartisan neutrality almost extremely unlikely.

Conclusively, the impeachment of Donald Trump exposed the lack of neutrality that exists in modern society. Partisan politics has taken center stage in the way things run both in the House of Representatives and the Congress. The investigation into the cases of a misdemeanor on the part of the president exposed a House that was unwilling to be nonpartisan in its deliberations of the impeachment process. Further, it would lay the ground for a Republican-led Congress that was unwilling to go against party loyalty and consider giving priority to principle. Nearly all the Democrats voted in favor of the impeachment while all the House Republicans voted against it. In the Congress, the president was acquitted of both charged against him as he enjoyed the support of the Republicans who voted overwhelmingly to acquit him. The partisanship in the voting patterns denied the constitutional legitimacy of the entire process of impeachment. Nevertheless, the process underscored the fact that for an impeachment to be successful in the present society, all the constitutional criteria must be met. In addition to that, it would require overwhelming bipartisan support that would make neutrality possible. This would help in highlighting the guilt or innocence of the individual as opposed to flexing political muscles.