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The 2nd Impeachment of Donald Trump

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  • JaredS
    2021-01-12 09:14:53 PM
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    The House of Representatives are voting on an unprecedented second impeachment of President Donald Trump, days after he incited a deadly riot that culminated in his protesters storming the United States Capitol in an unprecedent act of insurrection and sedition against the United States government.

    The deadly attack left five people dead, including a Capitol Hill police officer.

    No President in our nations history has ever been impeached twice, making Donald Trump the first (and hopefully only) President to be saddled with that asterisk.

    While it may strike some as odd that Congress moving to impeach Donald Trump with so letter time left in his term, it does in fact make perfect sense because a conviction in the United States Senate could bar him from seeking office ever again if the Senate also votes to do so.

    Multiple House, and perhaps more importantly, Senate Republicans have come out in favor of Trump's impeachment or pleaded on him to resign.

    I'm certainly not a betting man, but I have to admit I think there's a very real shot enough Senate Republicans will jump on board to convict Trump. None other than Republican Leader Mitch McConnell privately told his Republican colleagues that he was "pleased" the House is moving to impeach Trump because it will make it easy for Republicans to "purge" him from the party. If Trump has lost McConnell then anything can happen in the Senate trial.

    What do you think? Is the House smart to move ahead with impeachment days before Trump is set to leave office or was what he incited on 1/6/2021 so terrible that it requires his immediate removal no matter how many days he has left in office?

  • J.K.Logic
    2021-01-12 09:23:03 PM
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    JaredS Wrote:

    What do you think? Is the House smart to move ahead with impeachment days before Trump is set to leave office or was what he incited on 1/6/2021 so terrible that it requires his immediate removal no matter how many days he has left in office?

    When I first saw the headlines of the attempt at a 2nd impeachment, my first thought was 'that's stupid, there's only a few days left in office'. But then I realized the consequences of him being removed before his time is up - can't run again being chief among them - and then immediately came on board with the idea.

    I think what happened at the Capitol and Trump's role in inciting that crowd requires him being kicked out of office, whether its in the middle of his term or with only hours left on the job.

  • JFoster
    2021-01-13 11:06:59 AM
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    Agreed, this is great news. I've noticed the Democratic party has been a little buddy buddy with Mike Pence. More than likely to get him to flip on Trump as well. If I'm not mistaken, a president has never been barred from running for office again. The last Federal official to be barred was in 1913.
  • JaredS
    2021-01-13 04:36:12 PM
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    It's official. Donald Trump is now the first President in our nations history to be impeached twice. Ten Republicans joined a united Democratic Party in the vote.

    I honestly think there's a very real possibility the Senate will vote to convict Trump, even if they don't take up the trial until after he's out of office. As I said earlier, a conviction in the Senate will bar Trump from ever holding office again. So on the surface it might seem odd to impeach Trump with mere days left in his tenure, but it makes perfect sense to those people who want to make sure he can never be President or hold any other Federal office again.

  • PentagonWall
    2021-01-13 05:16:12 PM
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    JaredS Wrote:

    I honestly think there's a very real possibility the Senate will vote to convict Trump, even if they don't take up the trial until after he's out of office. As I said earlier, a conviction in the Senate will bar Trump from ever holding office again. So on the surface it might seem odd to impeach Trump with mere days left in his tenure, but it makes perfect sense to those people who want to make sure he can never be President or hold any other Federal office again.

    I agree with you. I think the Senate will actually vote to convict Trump this time. This is the perfect opportunity for the Republicans to purge Trump, especially if the Senate votes after Trump is already out.
  • JaredS
    2021-01-14 12:12:40 PM
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    I regret to admit I was mistaken and should clear things up.

    A supermajority is not required to prevent Trump from ever holding office again. A trial still must be held and two-thirds of Senators must vote to convict him. However, the Senate can hold a second vote after that and with a simple majority can vote to prevent Trump from ever holding office again.

    So here's an interesting scenario to think about: The Senate holds it's trial against Trump. Five to ten Republican Senators vote to convict Trump in his trial, but it doesn't reach the necessary two-thirds (67) votes to convict him. Then the Senate holds a second vote to permanently bar Trump from ever seeking office again and none of the Republicans join, which would put it in the Democrats court. Republicans could wipe their hands clean of Trump while being able to blame Democrats for "overreach" (or insert whatever else you want to here) at the same time.

    Sure, this is a pretty pessimistic view of what in theory is supposed to be the greatest deliberative body in the world, but I wouldn't be surprised in the least if something like this happened.

  • JaredS
    2021-02-09 12:02:26 PM
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    Donald Trump's 2nd Impeachment trial starts today. There will be a formal debate about the Constitutionality of the trial, which Senators will then vote on at the end of the day. That will almost certainly pass and the House mangers will begin making their case against the former President Wednesday. The trial will certainly take the rest of the week and potentially go into next.

    While it's extremely unlikely enough Republicans will vote to convict the former President, at a minimum they will be forced to go on record in saying whether or not Trump committed impeachable offenses and that he should no longer be allowed to hold a Federal office.

    My guess is enough Republicans will vote to acquit on a (Constitutionally flimsy) technicality that the Senate can't try a former President. To be clear - this is untested in the courts and Constitutional scholars on both sides of the aisle have laughed the defense out of the room. Unfortunately there aren't any Constitutional scholars sitting as jurors in the former President's trial.

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