In a historic move for the United States, Donald Trump was acquitted in his second impeachment trial. Trump leaves in his wake dozens of controversial policies and thousands of tweets - and the legacy of the only US President to be impeached twice.
Democrats and Republicans alike accused the former President for 'inciting an insurrection' when a violent mob stormed the Capitol Building in Washington DC on January 6th. The mob made their way inside the chamber in an attempt to hinder the verification of Joe Biden's Presidency.
'Get smart Republicans. FIGHT!'
Source: thetrumparchive.com, archive of @realdonaldtrump on January 6th 2021
The trial, which began in the senate on the 9th February, saw several hours of arguments from both sides of the house. The Democrats focused their argument on the future of America, posing the ultimatum of what the next generation will think if Trump was acquitted.
On the other hand, Republican defense lawyers argued the impeachment itself was 'unconstitutional', attacking Democrats and branding the trial as a four year long 'witch hunt'.
Sadly, the trial didn't end well for the Democrats. A guilty verdict would have meant an end to Trump's six figure pension, loss of the privilege to the secret service and most importantly the inability to run again for office.
What will become of the former President is still unclear. In his last speech as President he stated "We will be back... in some form", heavily suggesting his political career is far from over.
If I were to offer my own opinion, I think Trump will end up forming his own party. Whether it's successful or not will remain to be seen, as I don't believe enough Republicans would shift their vote to the left field choice of a 'MAGA' party.
Similar to the UK's 2019 election, we saw the Brexit Party's attempt to win constituencies that only led to votes being taken away from the Conservative party (sometimes leading to a narrow Labour victory in some places). Based on this, I think it would be highly unlikely for Trump to gain a second term sometime in the future.
However, (sadly) we can't rule anything out. I'm sure we can all remember the laughs and jokes of a Trump administration in 2016 - a Clinton victory seemed inevitable with many viewing 'President Trump' as some dystopic nightmare.
Four years on, and we're at the other end of the most pain-staking, stressful and catastrophic administrations in history. The future is always unknown - and a second MAGA campaign may be closer than we think.
