Politics

Why Impeaching Donald Trump At The End Of His Presidency Is Necessary

Impeachment might seem too little too late, but a president responsible insurmountable damage to the social fabric of the United States should not reap the benefits of the presidency.

by Merryana Salem  14 January 2021
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Donald Trump has ended this week as the first president in American history to go through the process of impeachment twice. The House of Representatives as expected has voted to impeach Trump, one week since the insurrection of Capitol Hill and one week before Trump’s term in office ends on January 20th.

Understandably, one might have many questions here. Namely, what will successful impeachment mean for Donald Trump? What will it mean for Joe Biden? And, why bother with impeachment at all if Trump’s presidency ends in under a fortnight?

Impeachment is the power that the constitution gives Congress to remove a sitting US President. There are two steps to the process, a vote, and then a trial. The vote requires a majority vote in the US House of Representatives on the articles of impeachment.

In this case, the Democrats’ article of impeachment reads, “Trump has demonstrated that he will remain a threat to national security, democracy, and the Constitution is allowed to remain in office.” Should the vote on the article gain a majority, which it now has, the second step in the process is the impeachment trial.

The trial is held in the Senate. The senate hear evidence from both sides of the House, then vote again to convict. If the Senate votes in the majority to convict Trump, he is immediately removed from office. The Senate can then vote on whether to ban the president from ever holding office again (which also requires a two-thirds majority to pass).

This second stage is where Trump’s 2019 impeachment was unsuccessful. The Senate has a Republican majority, unlikely to impeach a president that represents them. While no Republican representatives backed Trump’s prior impeachment, some representatives say they may support impeachment.

For Trump, successful impeachment means he could not hold, or run for office again. Nor would he be entitled to post-presidency benefits such as a $200,000 pension, or permanent secret service protection.

While an impeachment trial could potentially slow-up Biden’s much needed COVID-19 relief plans for his first 100 days in office by tying up the Senate, impeachment is necessary. Without at least an attempt at a successful impeachment trial, a dangerous precedent could be set.

The House has attempted to remove Trump under the 25th Amendment. The 25th Amendment, more commonly known as the Disability Clause, says that if the president is unable to determine his own decision-making capacity, it is possible – though this is an untested area of law – that the vice president, independently or in consultation with the Cabinet, would determine if he himself assumes the role of acting president.

However, Pence refused impeachment via the 25th Amendment. Thus, lawmakers are also currently trying to line up the 14th Amendment to prevent Trump from running for office again, as well as to hold any current and future US politicians accountable for supporting or participating in the Jan. 6 riots.

So what’s the 14th Amendment and how could it be used to impeach Donald Trump? Section 3 of the 14th Amendment of the US constitution says that if a person has engaged in an “insurrection or rebellion” against the US, they cannot hold office. More precisely it states,

“No person shall be a Senator or Representative in Congress, or elector of President and Vice President, or hold any office, civil or military, under the United States…shall have engaged in insurrection or rebellion against the same, or given aid or comfort to the enemies thereof. But Congress may, by a vote of two-thirds of each House, remove such disability.”

In other words, no one, and especially the president of the United States can hold office if they engage in any way in rebellion against the United States. It would be against the very Constitution the President is bound to protect. A president should not incite insurrection without consequence, because the 14th Amendment to the US constitution supposedly prevents anyone who incites insurrection from holding office.

Of course, any document written by a group of men who thought it was a-okay to own slaves and genocide Native peoples should, in the very least, be taken with a grain of salt. But it does stand to reason that a president who supports rebellion against the Office and people he represents should be removed from said office.

So, has Trump engaged in any way with rebellion or insurrection?

There are many who believe that he has. In a Trump rally that took place in the days before the insurrection on January 6th, Trump was riling up the attendees. Specifically, he used many phrases such as, “If you don’t fight like hell you’re not going to have a country anymore,” and, “We will never give up. We will never concede. It doesn’t happen,” in his address at the rally.

This was before he refused to call the National Guard on them himself. It was also before he released a video to Twitter telling the people storming the Capitol Building that he loved them and that they were very special.

I don’t pretend to be a political lawyer, but all that feels like Trump. “engaged in insurrection or rebellion” to me.

So, what happens now?

The House of Representatives won the majority vote today to impeach Trump, but the process is far from over. Trump still has to be convicted via an impeachment trial in the Senate, which may not happen until after Biden’s inauguration on the 20th of January.

Now you might think that holding the impeachment trial after Trump and his administration out of Office isn’t ideal. But if Trump’s impeachment trial begins after Biden’s inauguration, not only does that mean he loses all his benefits, it also means Vice President Pence (who would become president if Trump was impeached while his administration is in office) cannot pardon his impeachment charge.

Currently, the biggest obstacle facing a successful impeachment trial lies in the Senate, which Trump has stacked with supporters over the course of his presidency. This means it will be harder to get a majority vote of people willing to impeach him. It’s also why his impeachment failed last time.

Impeachment is a two-step process. Step one, the House vote, has been achieved. But there is still the impeachment trial. In short, no one is out of the woods yet.

Impeachment might seem too little too late, but a president responsible insurmountable damage to the social fabric of the United States should not reap the benefits of the presidency. Nor should he or any other future presidents with similar destructive belief or intent be empowered to gain office. A lesson learned too late for one can still teach those to come.

Merryana Salem is a proud Wonnarua and Lebanese–Australian writer, critic, teacher, researcher and podcaster on most social media as @akajustmerry. If you want, check out her podcast, GayV Club where she gushes about LGBT rep in media with her best friend. Either way, she hopes you ate something nice today.