In December of 2019 until February of 2020, House Democrats brought the first set of articles of impeachment against Donald Trump with the accusations that the ex-president had abused his power and obstructed justice. Those two articles only succeeded in impeaching him, but not in removing him from office. With the rolling out of the New Year in 2021, House Democrats had a new article and accusation to bring against the ex-president.

Jabin Botsford/The Washington Post
Portrait of Donald J. Trump

Impeaching a president has happened before- Andrew Johnson was impeached due to his role in the American Civil War. Richard Nixon was set to be impeached, though he resigned before that process could continue. Bill Clinton was impeached for allegations of sexual activities with Monika Lewinsky, though he was acquitted on both articles of impeachment.

Impeaching Donald Trump came with a different reason and consequence, though. Explicit support for the violent events that happened on January 6 at the Capitol and multiple proven instances of abuse of power that occurred in 2020 were enough for House Democrats to consider impeaching the incumbent president again.

Donald Trump encouraged agitated supporters to riot and commit acts of violence at the Capitol for weeks ahead of time. He encouraged violence through social media, through rallies, and throughout the end of the election when it was clear that he had lost against Joe Biden.

Photo from Twitter.com of user Donald J. Trump
The tweet reads “The BIG Protest Rally in Washington, D.C., will take place at 11:00 A.M. on January 6th. Location details to follow. StopTheSteal!”

The President has had, and will continue to have now that he’s gone, a pool of supporters that believe anything he says- and that is the issue impeachment addresses. The blatant lie of voter fraud, and a ‘stolen election’ mantra repeated by Trump only encouraged his supporters full of white supremacists, neo-Nazis, and conservative Republicans to become agitated and angry. During the riot on January 6 at the Capitol building in Washington DC, rioters flew multiple flags- Trump 2020 flags, Confederate flags, Nazi symbolism, and symbols of white supremacy.

Photo by Alex Gakos
Rioters supporting U.S. President Donald Trump break into the U.S. Capitol, Washington, D.C., U.S., Jan. 6, 2021.

Photo from Twitter.com user Nathan Bernard
Video showing Twitch streamer Baked Alaska, an online neo-Nazi personality present at the U.S. Capitol, Washington, D.C., Jan. 6, 2021.

The most concerning part are that Trump’s support and support of the sitting President have become synonymous with the support of far-right hate groups. That was the driving motivator for the impeachment process.

Impeaching Donald Trump, in the eyes of House Democrats and some House Republicans, would’ve set a precedent, that no longer will America tolerate those kinds of actions or that sort of aggressive lying towards the American people.

The article of impeachment being brought forward was signed on January 14 by House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, impeaching Donald Trump for being responsible for inciting an insurrection. Afterwards, Pelosi gave a statement. “…Donald Trump is a clear and present danger to our country and that once again we honour that oath of office to protect and defend the Constitution of the United States, so help us God.” The signage of the article happened in the same room that just a week prior, had been filled with rioters.

Donald Trump became the first president to be impeached twice in a single term, and the continuation of the impeachment process is not set to begin until Wednesday, January 20th after Joe Biden’s inauguration.

https://www.nytimes.com/2019/12/18/us/politics/trump-impeached.html
https://www.cnn.com/2021/01/11/politics/house-articles-of-impeachment/index.html
https://www.politico.com/news/2021/01/13/pelosi-signs-article-of-impeachment-459100https://www.orlandoweekly.com/orlando/president-trump-tweeted-big-protest-in-dc-on-january-6th-be-there-will-be-wild-and-thousands-of-insurrectionists-heeded-the-call/Content?oid=28622391https://factba.se/topic/deleted-tweets