Trump's impeachment fails - What Democrats achieve and did not achieve

Trump's impeachment trial has finally come to a closure with his acquittal in Senate. The trial was reduced to a partisanship exercise from the beginning as it was pretty clear that Mitch McConnell was preparing for an acquittal from the start and he was not interested in an actual trial with witnesses & disclosure of classified documents.

What Democrats did not not accomplish from Trial?
  1. Removal of Trump from office by a formal 2/3rd majority in Senate. This goal was almost impossible to achieve as most Republican Senators were unlikely to sway towards Democrats impeachment motion.
  2. Forcing Trump to resign by breaking away 4-5 Republican senators to join with Democrats impeachment motion. If few GOP senators had joined Democrats, it would have created a crisis for Trump and he might have resigned to save face even before a final formal vote on impeachment. I think McConnell used his party whip strength and all his power to keep GOP senators in control.
  3. Democrats could not present witnesses like Bolton & others to shed more light on Trump's Ukraine dealings. I think that losing vote on calling witnesses was the biggest setback for Democrats. If Democrats were successful in getting Bolton's testimony, it would've created a possibility for second point mentioned above. Also, a testimony from Bolton would've created a PR nightmare for Republicans & several Senators would feel compelled to vote in favor of impeachment.

What Democrats did achieve?
  1. Democrats took a Moral stand to confront an exceptionally lawless, corrupt, divisive, unstable, unfit & incompetent President. Trump will be remembered as President who was impeached by House & acquitted by Senate. The GOP effort to have a mockery of a trial by rejecting key witnesses & testimonies is also recorded in History.
  2. Democrats though failed in final removal of Trump, refreshed a critical feature of US constitution, a President can be put on trial for his crimes, illegalities, corruption & misconduct. America is not like a failed 3rd world Democracy where rule of law is irrelevant and leader of country is immune from any trial for his crimes, corruption & misconduct.
  3. Another important point which is not mentioned in media is that impeachment exercise has actually sunk popularity of Republican party. I still believe that American people are NOT as dumb as Trump think they are. A lot of people have realized & understood the coverup of Trump's crimes & Mitch McConnell's mockery of trial in Senate. This will be reflected in 2020 elections as people will exercise their votes to remove Trump.
  4. Impeachment exercise has established a degree of Congressional control over Trump's wild behavior in White House. Trump may tread carefully after realizing that his fate is in the hands of Congress & Senate as he's not immune from scrutiny of his actions. Hopefully, Trump will think twice before engaging in further acts of blatant corruption & crimes.

Comments

Popular posts from this blog

Why Trump happens? Part 1

India, Democracy and Political future

Why Trump won 2024 US elections?