Over the weekend, the world watched as the United States Senate voted in the impeachment trial of former President Donald Trump. After being impeached by the house several weeks prior, this vote carried major implications moving forward, as conviction by the Senate would have barred the former president from running for officer ever again. With that being said, the Senate voted to acquit Trump for the second time, as Democrats were unable to get the two-thirds majority needed for conviction. Many viewed this vote as a referendum on the GOP’s desire to further pursue Trumpism within the party as opposed to distancing themselves from him. Only seven Senate Republicans voted for a conviction, most of whom had distanced themselves from Trump for quite some time, including senators Mitt Romney and Ben Sasse. Notably, Senator Mitch McConnell delivered a scathing rebuke of Donald Trump, but still voted to acquit.
With Trump having been officially acquitted for the second time since the beginning of his presidency, the door is now wide open for the former president to make another run for the White House in 2024, as a Republican or even an independent. Moreover, as Trump’s relations with key members of the party, including House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy, Mitch McConnell, Nikki Haley, and even his own running mate, continue to crumble, the idea of a third party run in four years is very possible. For a party that seemed so eager to move on from the president in the aftermath of the January 6th capitol riots, it is clear that if this move were to occur, they would only have themselves to blame. In the meantime, all of this is pure speculation, but as the former president puts it, his movement: “has only just begun.”
Riley Dulin - Staff Writer