Logan Ramsey
News Editor
Now that President Trump has been acquitted, we have more questions than answers about what will happen to our country. Even if he had been convicted, we’d still have questions, but at least we’d know we wouldn’t be stuck with him for another four years.
I’ve written about this topic twice before now, so it only felt natural that I should cover it one more time. The first time I wrote about this, I was cynical. Whatever the outcome, I thought the country would be divided. The second time, I was more hopeful. I encouraged everyone to call Jim Risch and tell him what they thought he should do about impeachment. My hope was that people would convince him to vote to bring new witnesses. He let me down, and he let the country down.
I am of the opinion that the Republican party let the United States down, but there’s a good chance you disagree with me on that. I’m not going to focus on whether or not Trump’s guilty, because if you’ve seen the evidence and you still don’t think so, your opinion isn’t going to change.
My focus is on where the country will go now, and my fear is that Trump will be further emboldened to overstep his bounds as president.
He’s already reassigned European Union Ambassador Gordon Sondland and Lt. Col. Alexander Vindman. While that’s not illegal, it’s retaliation for a completely legal impeachment proceeding.
Some of these attacks aren’t coming directly from Trump, but they’re being carried out by his supporters. Utah Senator Mitt Romney was the only Republican to vote to convict on one of the articles of impeachment, and he’s facing blowback.
The President has hurled insults Romney’s way, as he normally does, and Donald Trump Jr. called for the Senator to be removed from the Republican party. This is all less consequential blowback, but the Utah GOP is reportedly considering a resolution calling for the Senator to resign from his position.
However, this isn’t likely to change his standing in the Senate because life has resumed as normal on Capitol Hill. Romney is still on the leadership’s whip team, and none of his fellow Senators seem eager to kick him out. Say they did, they would also narrow their majority down to 52 and make it more difficult to pass legislation.
This is one of those moments when Trump supporters strike me as brainwashed, because there’s no good reason for Romney to resign all for voting with his conscience. Even though the Senate isn’t likely to take action against him, there’s a good chance his voters will.
The most pressing example was Attorney General William Barr’s intervention in Roger Stone’s case. If you need a refresher about Stone’s case, Special Counsel Robert Mueller indicted him with one count of obstruction, five counts of false statements, and one count of witness tampering in the congressional probe into Russia’s interference in the 2016 presidential election, and he was convicted on all seven charges.
The U.S. Attorney’s office recommended a sentencing of up to nine years, but then Trump called the sentencing recommendation “a horrible and very unfair situation,” in a tweet.
Then the Department of Justice intervened and sent a second sentencing memo calling for a lighter punishment. Afterwards, Trump thanked Barr for taking charge of the case and accused Mueller of lying to congress.
Both Trump and Barr have denied the accusations, and ultimately Judge Amy Berman Jackson has the final say on how to sentence Stone.
However, Barr’s actions clearly breached protocol. More than 1,100 former DOJ employees called for the Attorney General’s resignation in a letter for tarnishing the department’s reputation. And now, Barr’s scheduled to testify before the House Judiciary Committee on March 31.
It’s too soon to know what will happen when he testifies, but these recent events don’t reflect a positive future for the country.
Let’s say the committee finds irrefutable proof that Trump specifically directed Barr to intervene in Stone’s case. The best scenario I see playing out is one where Barr is either forced to resign or removed from office, without any action taken against the President. Let’s take it a step farther, and say evidence surfaces that constitutes another abuse of power charge. He still won’t be removed from office.
The Democrats put all their eggs in one basket with the impeachment trial, and I don’t believe they have any power to take action against Trump’s presidency. The Republicans still hold the Senate majority, and most are unflinchingly loyal to the President.
The American public’s interest in the Senate impeachment trial was already low, even with people who wanted to see Trump removed. How interested would we be in a second one, not even a year after the first?
The only chance is for whoever becomes the Democratic party nominee to triumph in the 2020 presidential election. The only problem is that the American people might not want to vote Trump out of office after acquittal.
After President Clinton was acquitted, the Republicans lost seats in the House of Representatives and made no gains in the Senate, which was the first time since 1934 that the non-presidential party failed to gain congressional seats in a mid-term election.
If House Democrats lose their majority, the last piece of political power they have will be lost. Even worse, if Trump is reelected, they’ll be powerless to check his conduct.
It’s my fear that President Trump will go unchecked for the rest of his presidency, which could end up being a lot longer than we thought it would be.
