Today’s article is not going to be as long, however, the topic is crucial to understand. You may have heard of Donald Trump’s 2nd impeachment, but do you know why he is being impeached and how the process is going down?   

Alana Wise, a writer of NPR, reports that on Tuesday the 9th, the Senate began the second impeachment trial of the former President Donald Trump. Brian Naylor, also an NPR writer, further explains how on January 13th, the House of Representatives voted to impeach him for high crimes and misdemeanors, specifically for incitement of insurrection. “Incitement,” according to Oxford Languages, means to provoke or urge someone to behave unlawfully, and “insurrection,” according to Merriam-Webster, means an act of revolting against civil authority or government. In simpler terms, the House of Representatives is impeaching Trump for provoking his supporters to act against the United States government on January 6th via the Capitol riots. The impeachment article states that Trump “willfully made statements that, in context, encouraged — and foreseeably resulted in — lawless action at the Capitol, such as: ‘if you don’t fight like hell you’re not going to have a county anymore'” (Naylor). The article was approved by House 232-197 and made Trump the first president of the U.S. to be impeached twice. However, the likelihood of the Senate impeaching him is unlikely (Naylor).

Trump has denied that he was responsible for the mob that jeopardized hundreds of lawmakers and resulted in 5 deaths. His lawyers claimed that his actions toward his supporters that day are protected under the First Amendment and that the trial would be unconstitutional (Wise). However, CNBC states that the Senate voted that the impeachment trial is constitutional and will continue Wednesday the 10th. Trump’s defense team and the impeachment managers who are prosecuting against him will begin arguing for why he should or shouldn’t be impeached (CNBC.com staff).

This week’s impeachment has such historical significance, as we have never seen a U.S. President be impeached twice. The topic of impeachment is incredibly complicated. However, utilizing the most critical points and simplifying them down to better understand them is the best possible way to learn critical historical events in politics.  

Works Cited 

CNBC.com staff. “Trump Impeachment Trial: GOP Senator Rips Former President’s Legal Team.” CNBC, 9 Feb. 2021, www.cnbc.com/2021/02/09/trump-impeachment-trial-live-updates-stream.html.

“Insurrection.” Merriam-Webster.com Dictionary, Merriam-Webster,

https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/insurrection. 

Accessed 9 Feb. 2021.

Naylor, Brian. “Article Of Impeachment Cites Trump’s ‘Incitement’ Of Capitol Insurrection.” NPR, 11 Jan. 2021, choice.npr.org/index.html?origin=https://www.npr.org/sections/trump-impeachment-effort-live-updates/2021/01/11/955631105/impeachment-resolution-cites-trumps-incitement-of-capitol-insurrection.

“Oxford Languages and Google – English | Oxford Languages.” Oxford Languages, 6 Aug. 2020, languages.oup.com/google-dictionary-en.

Wise, Alana. “Watch Live: Trump’s 2nd Senate Impeachment Trial Underway.” NPR, 9 Feb. 2021, choice.npr.org/index.html?origin=https://www.npr.org/sections/trump-impeachment-trial-live-updates/2021/02/09/964619295/watch-live-trumps-2nd-senate-impeachment-trial-begins-tuesday.