Impeachment Without Senate Removal May Cripple the Two-Party System
Can America's world - renowned and highly heralded two- party system survive all the turmoil following the 2020 presidential election?
We wait to see if Kentucky's senior Senator, Mitch McConnell, who is serving out his last week as Majority leader will encourage his fellow Republicans to vote to remove President Trump from office for the acts of sedition carried out by Trump's followers on our nation's capitol on January 6.
Are you thinking he was impeached and that removes him from office? Well, no. You see the Democratically controlled House of Representatives, under the leadership of Congresswoman Nancy Pelosi of California, voted on Wednesday, January 13, one week after the Capitol invasion, to impeach President Trump or bring charges against him.
This simply means that the House Democrats along with ten brave Republicans acted as a Grand Jury. Almost one year ago, January 16, only Democrats voted to impeach. Trump. But then, as now, they could only bring charges, the Senate had the power to remove.
So here we are again, the House impeaches and it looks like McConnell and Republicans are reticent about the removal.
Speaking to reporters, McConnell said he might consider voting for removal and having some of his fellow Republicans follow him, even though his days as Majority Leader of the Senate would have ended. The Democrats will control that body along with the House and the Presidency.
You wonder, what if Trump is not removed before January 20 when constitutionally he must leave? If Trump is not removed from office by two - thirds of the Senators present and voting, he will be able to seek the Republican nomination for President in 2024!
And there is no reason to believe he will not try after having received over 70 million votes in the 2020 election, even though he receives 10 million fewer popular votes than President-elect Joseph Biden.
If not removed by the Senate, he will also be eligible for a lifetime pension of over $200,000 each year plus added benefits.
Will this give him leverage over the Republican Party? Can he still hold onto the 70 million voters by 2024? But if he loses 20% of that support, what happens to the Republican Party?
It is becoming abundantly clear that the traditional Republican Party may be lost for at least 8 more years at the national level and possibly at state level.
If traditional Republicans, the never-Trumpers, break away and try to form a 3rd party, they will most likely be unsuccessful. We will not have a robust three - party system or serious multi - parties. As a matter of fact, we will not have the traditional two- party system.
A Trump controlled Republican party will not be able to seriously compete with a unified Democratic Party, at least not at the national level.
Does this mean we will end up with a one- party system, the Democratic Party? If so, this would not necessarily be good.
One party can easily turn tyrannical. Unchecked, the party can become abusive or non - responsive or splinter into a Progressive body in ongoing contention with the Moderate body. In other words, they could become as fractured as the Republicans.
This is a lot to think about, but in a democracy we must look at all possibilities.
Let's hope our two- party system can survive and a sense of normality will return.
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