The second impeachment trial of former President Donald Trump reaches its conclusion amid debate over how best to turn the page on the ubiquitous and polarizing figure who occupied the White House for the last four years.
For Democrats, the answer is obvious: convict Trump for inciting an insurrection at the Capitol on Jan. 6 and disqualify him from ever running for office ever again. Otherwise, Trump may repeat his claims of stolen elections, or some future political figure may try to turn their supporters on Congress, the counters of the Electoral College votes, after losing a close race.
Some Republicans agree. But many others see impeachment as keeping Trump in the headlines after he has already left office, at the expense of other more pressing legislative business. “Trump is gone,” said a GOP strategist. “Let’s move on.”
“Move on” was the battle cry of Democratic opponents of then-President Bill Clinton’s impeachment in the late 1990s. A left-wing group that derives its name from that fight, MoveOn.org, is raising money to erect billboards urging senators to vote for Trump’s conviction.
“The start of Donald Trump’s second impeachment trial went so badly that Donald Trump reportedly screamed at his television,” reads one fundraising appeal to MoveOn.org supporters. “House impeachment managers presented the beginning of an open-and-shut case — and Trump’s lawyers responded with such rambling nonsense that even Trump’s biggest defenders said they had ‘no idea’ what his lawyers were doing.”
At issue is whether allowing the now Twitter-less Trump to pass from the scene as voters turn their attention elsewhere is better than allowing the GOP to spend the next two years waging intraparty fights over the former president. “Nobody in this chamber is anxious to have a primary challenge,” said Trump attorney Bruce Castor. “That is one truism I think I can say with some certainty. But that’s the way we operate in this country.”
Impeachment supporters argue this approach allowed Trump to continue to sow doubts about the election until the day the Electoral College results were certified, ending in violence. House Republicans rebuffed an effort to strip Rep. Liz Cheney of her leadership position for her vote to impeach. Former U.S. Ambassador to the United Nations Nikki Haley, a possible 2024 presidential candidate, distanced herself from her former boss in an interview.
Senators don’t even agree about whether impeachment, primarily a process for removing officials from office, even applies to a president whose term expired. They voted 56-44 to proceed with the trial, but that is well below the two-thirds majority that would be required to convict Trump. Constitutional scholars disagree on this question. The House vote to impeach Trump took place while he was still president.
Rep. Jamie Raskin, the Maryland Democrat who is the lead House impeachment manager, argued that this interpretation would allow a “January exception” to the Constitution, whereby presidents could violate the oath of office late in their terms while leaving lawmakers no recourse.
Raskin’s team of Democratic managers made the case that Trump had a long history of incendiary rhetoric and had laid the groundwork for disputing the outcome of any election he did not win. They argued Trump summoned his supporters to Washington on the day the electoral vote was to be certified, urged them to march on the Capitol, and later did nothing to stop them once the protests turned violent, even attacking his own vice president on Twitter as then-Vice President Mike Pence and members of Congress fled the mob.
Trump’s defense team countered that he had requested peaceful protest, that Democrats have used words like “fight” figuratively and have not always been faithful narrators of the ex-president’s words, that his election claims were covered under the First Amendment, and that impeachment was ultimately about denying the voters the choice of electing him again in 2024.
Trump was acquitted in a previous Senate trial a year ago. This time, more Republicans are likely to join Democrats in voting to convict than the lone GOP senator, Utah’s Sen. Mitt Romney, who voted with them on one count in early 2020. The House impeachment managers sought to remind them with elaborate video presentations that they, too, had been victims of the riot.
Yet, it may not be enough to yield a conviction. Some Democrats are outraged that Republicans seem poised to acquit Trump a second time, arguing it is a poor reflection on the former president’s party.
“It is clear that we only have one functioning party in the United States, and what is more interesting than how the managers are doing is what will the eight or so GOP senators who seem to have some respect for the country and the Constitution do?” said Democratic strategist Stefan Hankin. “Are they OK with associating themselves with those who support sedition and choose cowardice over country, or do they move to create a viable center-right party? I hope they do, but I have my doubts.”
The Senate is expected to vote on Saturday.
