Donald Trump made history — just not how he’d planned

The House vote, on a charge of ‘incitement of insurrection’, was in response to the events of seven days earlier

(AP)

Yesterday afternoon, Donald Trump became the first president in US history to be impeached twice. In an inverse Bill Clinton, his record is now one term, two impeachments.

The House vote, on a charge of “incitement of insurrection”, was in response to the events of seven days earlier, when the President gathered thousands of loyalists on the National Mall in Washington DC and implored them to prevent certification of Joe Biden’s victory.

As Trump departed, his mob stormed the Capitol. This was not some absentminded jaunt, where — in the retelling — things got a little out of hand and people ended up accidentally attempting to overthrow a democracy. They came prepared: with weapons, nooses and the capability of taking hostages.

The insurrection failed. Trump will cease to be President at midday on January 20. But the battle for political equality — that the views of all Americans be treated equally by their institutions — rages on.

Hiding in safe rooms within the Capitol Building, Democratic legislators began drafting articles of impeachment. House Speaker Nancy Pelosi asked vice-president Mike Pence — a target of seditionist fury for overseeing certification — to invoke the 25th amendment. His refusal led to the vote. Ten Republicans joined the Democrats in voting for impeachment, making it the most bipartisan such vote in history. The action now moves to the Senate, where the constitution requires a two-thirds majority for conviction. Lawmakers could then bar Trump from holding public office.

Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell reportedly supports impeachment. Beware of deathbed conversions. He got what he wanted out of Trump — three ultra-conservative Supreme Court Justices and a tax cut for the wealthy.

McConnell is also aware that the GOP does not need a mob to ensure it holds power most of the time. The small state bias of the electoral college and Senate, as well as partisan gerrymandering in the House, will allow Republicans to frequently win both chambers and the presidency without a majority of votes.

Therefore, the biggest threat to the US constitution is not insurrectionists. Rather, it is the slow strangulation of a multiracial democracy by a white minority intent on leveraging institutional advantages to maintain its grip on power.

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