Donald J. Trump was the third president in United States history to be impeached. The House of Representatives voted on two articles of impeachment, those articles being the Abuse of Power and the Obstruction of Congress. The vote on the first article, Abuse of Power, resulted in 230 house members favoring impeachment, 197 opposed to it, and three did not vote. The vote for the second article, Obstruction of Congress, was very similar: 229 members were in support of impeachment, 198 were not, and three did not vote. 

Because of the results, Trump was officially impeached by the house. Though he was impeached by the House of Representatives, it did not necessarily mean that the impeachment process was over. After the House voted, it reached a resolution, and both articles were sent to the Senate. The Senate then voted on whether or not Trump should be removed from office. The trial within the Senate started on Jan. 21, and the Senate first decided on the ground rules for the trial. According to National Public Radio (NPR.org), Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell stated that the ground rules will play out as follows, “…first, sorting out who the key players are and how they will present their cases on whether to convict and remove the president from office, or to acquit him. The second stage would be whether to call witnesses and introduce more evidence.” The Senate then held Trump’s future as president in their hands. If found guilty, he could have been removed from office, and if found not guilty, he would  remain in office and continue his reelection campaign. 

     Ultimately, the Senate voted to not remove President Trump from office. Democrats were critical of the trial since Senate Republicans voted to block witnesses and documents from being introduced during the trial. Republicans argued that this additional information was redundant in their ultimate decision. What drew much attention was Utah’s Republican Senator, Mitt Romney’s vote for removal based on Abuse of Power charges. He called Trump’s behavior “so extreme and egregious that it rises to the level of a high crime and misdemeanor.”

Many believed that Trump would remain in office, due to the fact that the senate is controlled by the Republican party. Fox News stated, “Graham remains confident that Republicans are still united enough to acquit Trump at the conclusion of the trial” (Foxnews.com). Many people hoped that Democrats and some wild card Republicans in the senate would favor removal from office and Trump would be found guilty on the account of the two articles of impeachment. Also, a recent poll conducted by Server Reporting Services (SSRS) showed that 51% of Americans believed Trump should be removed from office, while 45% think he should remain (CNN). Sophomore Emily Paladino shared her thoughts on the impeachment proceedings: “I think that the country would be disorganized for a little if Trump was convicted, since we would lack a leader, t it is important for a person in charge to be respected by their country.” 

Similar to any other time during Trump’s presidency, media outlets from both political parties have been feuding, and one topic that repeatedly comes up is the impeachment trials. Senior Sara Bahri stated, “Although the media does increase the public’s exposure to the impeachment, there are usually some biases to look out for within specific news outlets. It is important to read or watch things from both biases since America is in a time of political polarization.”  News.fullerton.edu explains how even though the media was around during both President Nixon’s Watergate scandal and President Clinton’s impeachment, many seem to notice that both political parties seem to come off much more strongly now more than ever because of social media. Due to social media, people have the ability to freely express their opinions through posts and comments, which means that everything users might read may not be entirely true due to personal bias and opinions. Sophomore Amanda Larow added, “Social media definitely influences people’s opinions and causes them to believe things are not entirely true. People are constantly posting their own biased political views, and it is very hard to pick out the real story due to people’s exaggerated opinions.” 

Trump’s impeachment is a topic many people watched closely, but the impeachment process did not seem to really slow President Trump down, as he recently attended a rally in Texas. He tweeted: “I will be going to Austin, Texas. Leaving soon. Always like (love!) being in the Lone Star State. Speaking to our great Farmers…” (@realDonaldTrump on twitter). The long impeachment process came to an end but will go down as one of the most significant political moments in Trump’s presidency.