Donald Trump Has Become The Third President To Be Impeached

Donald John Trump, the forty-fifth President of the United States, has officially become the third president in American history to be impeached.

Just after 9:00 p.m. Wednesday, the House of Representatives voted 230-197 in favor of the first article of impeachment: abuse of power.

Shortly thereafter, the House voted 229-198 to approve the second and final article: obstruction of Congress.

Not a single Republican voted for impeachment.

Three Democrats joined them: Minnesota Rep. Collin C. Peterson, NJ Rep. Jeff Van Drew, and Maine Rep. Jared Golden.

This makes Trump the first Republican president to be impeached, and the first to face impeachment in his first term.

Only three prior presidents have been subjected to this constitutional atomic bomb: Andrew Johnson in 1868, Richard Nixon in 1974, and Bill Clinton in 1998 (almost 21 years to the day).

We will remember this.

Historians will write and lecture about it for generations.

The next step is for House Speaker Nancy Pelosi to transfer impeachment to Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell, who refuses to summon witnesses.

McConnell has confirmed, in early January he will hold the constitutionally required trial determining whether Trump will be convicted and removed.

Supreme Court Chief Justice John Roberts will preside over it.

If a two-thirds majority–66–senators vote to convict, Donald Trump will be the first president to be removed from office.

This, however, is predicted to be unlikely since Republicans hold a 53-seat majority in the Senate.

We witnessed history last night.

But hold on for more.

It’s going to be a bumpy next few months.

Image credit: www.tasnimnews.com

 

Ted Millar is writer and teacher. His work has been featured in myriad literary journals, including Better Than Starbucks, The Broke Bohemian, Straight Forward Poetry, Caesura, Circle Show, Cactus Heart, Third Wednesday, and The Voices Project. He is also a contributor to The Left Place blog on Substack, and Medium.