It is hard to believe that after only six months, Donald Trump’s impeachment trial is over with the recent announcement that the Senate have voted to acquit him of all charges. It feels like the impeachment lasted far longer than just six months; in many ways it arguably started the day of his inauguration as people immediately began protesting about potential electoral interference by the Russian government. Trump’s election raised questions about the American democratic process as Hillary Clinton won the popular vote by just under three million votes and yet Trump still became President due to the electoral college system, which works similarly to the First Past the Post system in the UK.

Trump’s impeachment enquiry was first announced to the public on the 24th September 2019, marking the beginning of the ongoing feud between Trump and House speaker, Nancy Pelosi. Two impeachment charges were brought against Trump by the Democrats regarding abuse of power and Presidential misdemeanors. These accusations were based on potential Russian interference with the 2016 election and Ukrainian interference with the 2020 election. Formal proceedings began after a phone call, which occurred on July 25th with Ukranian President Zelensky, was leaked. In the phone call Trump tried to pressure the Ukrainian Government into investigating 2020 Presidential rival and former vice president, Joe Biden. Trump threatened to withhold around $400m in aid which had been promised to Ukraine unless they investigated Biden and his son and released evidence which would incriminate him, thus bolstering Trump’s own political campaign. This obviously raises issues regarding democracy as it prevents a fair election, something that was also brought into question during the 2016 election when people began to wonder whether Putin was involved in Trump’s win. Essentially, Trump’s reputation as a democratic leader has been tarnished from the very start. 

First, the House of Representatives voted in the impeachment trial, finding him guilty with a vote of 228 to 193 on the 13th December 2019. Then the trial moved to the Senate which required a 2/3 majority to find him guilty of the charges in order to force him to step down. Unfortunately, whereas the House currently holds a Democrat majority, the Senate is a Republican majority meaning the impeachment trial would be unlikely to get past this stage. As expected, the Senate voted to acquit Trump with a vote of 52 to 48 regarding the abuse of power charge, and 53 to 47 regarding the obstruction of Congress charge. This means that Trump is free to continue his Presidential campaign in the run up to the 2020 election, with the impeachment trial seemingly having little impact on his success.

Despite all of the controversy Trump has caused, his reign shows no signs of stopping. Surprisingly, in recent polls he has achieved his highest rating yet, with 49% of Americans approving of the job Trump is doing in office. This is Trump’s highest approval rating – an unusual figure given the recent impeachment inquiry. How is it that a man who has offended so many groups within society manages to maintain this level of success? Throughout Trump’s presidency he has managed to maintain a kind of martyr-esque figure, casting himself as a victim of the leftist movement. Trump himself referred to the impeachment enquiry as a ‘witch-hunt’, appealing to his Republican supporters who already dislike the “snowflake lefties”. Along with casting himself as the victim, Trump has managed to scapegoat nearly every minority group within American society. By labelling Mexican immigrants as criminals and ‘rapists’, ‘black guys’ as ‘lazy’ and women as ‘dogs’ or ‘disgusting animals’ he has put himself on a pedestal, placing himself in a seemingly untouchable position.

It seems like the longer Trump remains in power, the stronger he becomes. Unfortunately, I think it’s unlikely that Trump will be defeated in the upcoming election, especially given the recent polling results. Despite the hope that the impeachment enquiry would tarnish his reputation, it seems to have done the opposite, boosting his political position and helping to turn his supporters against the Democrats even more. I don’t think an impeachment enquiry or any more scandals are going to defeat Trump; at this point he’s faced pretty much every form of controversy imaginable to little effect. With the upcoming election, Americans need to make sure they go out and show their support for Democratic frontrunners like Bernie Sanders, Elizabeth Warren and Pete Buttigieg. While I don’t think they will manage to beat Trump, with enough pressure, Trump’s policies will become harder to implement and hopefully his legacy will be easier to erase.

Make sure you check out some other Comment articles about Trump’s impeachment and the US Elections:

Trump Impeachment: Further Controversy for the US President?

Plugging Populism – The 2020 Democratic Leadership Race

Bernie Sanders is Back