Making history again is the 45th president of the United States who is being impeached for the second time, which has never happened in all of American history. Democrats and a small group of Republican members in the House of Representatives voted to impeach President Trump on January 13th.

According to the charges brought forth to Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi, President Trump was impeached based on his alleged violation of the Constitution through obstruction of Congress and Abuse of Power. His recent impeachment led to a serious debate of whether it is even constitutional to impeach a former president.

Democrats all across the country pushed for conviction in Trump’s second impeachment. In an article published last month by Vox writers Ella Nilsen and Li Zhou, they explain that “Democrats say their reasons to move forward with impeachment are self-evident: They can be seen in the destruction of the US Capitol after a mob of violent Trump supporters invaded on [Jan. 6th].”
Democrats believe Trump encouraged violence because he wasn’t convinced that Joe Biden won the 2020 presidential election fairly.

Speaker Pelosi says, “President Trump spent weeks laying the groundwork for Jan. 6th to halt the counting of electoral college ballots, incited a mob to “fight like hell” & assault the Capitol, then refused to intervene to stop the attack.”

Why would representatives bother to impeach a president that is already leaving office?

The answer leans towards the fact that democrats never want Trump to step foot into a position that governs the country again. A conviction through the impeachment process would have made sure that never happened again.

Republicans feel that it is unnecessary to impeach someone who is already out of office because it is a waste of time, energy and money. Elvia Diaz, a writer for the Arizona Republic shared a quote from Ted Cruz saying

“The democrats want a week of political theater raging at Donald Trump… [This trial reminds] me of Shakespeare. It’s full of sound and fury, signifying nothing.”

Democrats’ counter argument is that if Trump avoided impeachment simply because he’s out of office, then that grants future presidents impunity for violations during their final days of office. This would exempt them from any punishment for wrongdoing. In the same article, Trump’s legal team insists that since he is a former president and now a “private citizen” he is immune to impeachment.

So what does Durant think about the impeachment?

A poll was conducted on the Durant Pawprint Newspaper Instagram where the question: “Do you think the impeachment of former President Trump is necessary?” was asked. Out of 77 votes 51% were supporting the impeachment of Trump while 49% opposed the impeachment.

Regardless of the many opinions about the impeachment, one thing seems evident. According to Senator Ted Cruz, the whole process is going to end with failure. “It is going to end with the president being acquitted. In order for the president to be convicted, it takes 67 votes in the U.S Senate. That’s not going to happen…It’s not going to get close to 67 votes. Every one of the 100 senators knows that… but this is political theater.”

What ended up happening…

At the end of this eventful trial, democrats failed to reach the needed supermajority votes. It ended in 57 senators supporting Trump’s conviction and 43 voting to acquit him. Seven republicans voted against former President Trump to have him convicted. Those seven are now facing backlash from their party because they voted to convict Trump. Democrats only needed 10 more votes to convict Trump, but their hopes for impeachment success failed to happen.