The United States Senate voted to acquit President Donald Trump of all Congress charges Wednesday including obstruction of Congress and abuse of power in regards to the allegation that he sought to pressure Ukraine to investigate his rivals.
The senators voted mainly with their political party, but Utah Senator Mitt Romney was the only Republican who voted against Trump in abuse of power.
In both cases, there was a two-thirds majority senate vote with 52 voting no for abuse of power and 53 voting no for obstruction of Congress, according to Politico.
The numbers that would have been required to remove a president from office, in this case Trump, which has never happened before in US history.
This left many people wondering, myself included, if this will give the president even more power because this proves that even if someone abuses their power they will basically be given a slap on the wrist for show and then continue to do whatever they want.
If there are no boundaries that can be crossed then what is the point of having them in place at all?
We could impeach officials all we want, but this shows that they will most likely never be removed from their position of power.
At this point, impeachment either needs to be redefined or else it means nothing.
It has often been used as a threatening political tool, but I don’t think it has ever been used effectively.
The Senate was given a chance to take a stance and they failed, leaving the door wide open for a potential re-election that could drive the country even further apart.
Evidently people are stuck in aligning themselves with a political party instead of doing what is right.
I may sound like a broken record, but imagine if there wasn’t a two-party system.
It could be better, it could not, but at least people wouldn’t feel pressured to stick to what they are used to and make their own choices instead of their parties without being condemned for it.
I’m guessing fear and traditional party lines interfered with the Republican party actually taking a stand against someone who is supposed to represent them and their values.
It also probably didn’t help the fact that Nancy Pelosi tore up Trump’s State of the Union speech the night before.
It was a strong statement that I commend her for along with most of the Democractic party, but to many it was childish and unprofessional which gave the other side yet another reason to stay within their bounds.
According to Vox.com, the Senate Republicans “made it pretty clear throughout this process that they were basically indifferent to the underlying question of what Trump did.”
Vox also explains how they agreed to hear from Alan Dershowitz during the trial who argued that there is no such thing as abuse of power unless it infringes upon certain statutes.
But they didn’t care to hear from a Government Accountability office, John Bolton, Mick Mulvaney or Hunter Biden who all actually had relevant information to testify with.
In hindsight, they were probably just saving themselves from potential embarrassment from exposing Trump of his wrong doings.
Regardless, I would be lying if I said this doesn’t worry me for the upcoming primary elections in March or the presidential election come November.
Maybe they will come to their senses and maybe they won’t, but I am remaining hopeful despite this setback.
I encourage everyone to get out and vote because it does matter in spite of what some may think.