The Illusion of Unity

The article of impeachment against Donald Trump is waiting in the U.S. Senate. The trial presents Republicans and Democrats with new problems.

They can still reach small compromises on Capitol Hill in Washington, D.C., the seat of the Capitol. The new majority leader in the Senate, Democrat Chuck Schumer, and Mitch McConnell, now the minority leader of the Republicans, have managed to agree on a timeline for the impeachment proceedings against Donald Trump.

On Monday evening, the Democrats transferred the article of impeachment to the Senate. Normally, the trial would begin immediately on Tuesday. But Schumer and McConnell reached a deal beforehand to delay the trial’s start to the first week of February. Now, they are just swearing in the senators to serve as jurors.

Both sides win with this deal: The Democrats can concentrate until then on confirming Joe Biden’s Cabinet nominees and working on a second round of COVID-19 relief. McConnell, in turn, has provided time for his former president to prepare his defense.

But compromises end with the logistics. Both sides want to determine their position on the proceedings in the coming days.

Trump’s impeachment presents Republicans as well as Democrats with a dilemma. And in both instances, the dilemma relates to the unity to which everyone so badly wants to return after the storming of the Capitol on Jan. 6. After years of polarization that began long before Trump, “unity” is already an illusory phrase. And the impeachment trial will not bring the parties any closer.

For Democrats, the second impeachment trial is unavoidable. It is their only option to hold Trump accountable for his alleged responsibility in the insurrection by a violent mob in early January. Moreover, the impeachment charge covers Trump’s phone call to Georgia Secretary of State Brad Raffensperger, the state’s highest election officer, during which Trump demanded that the Republican state official find enough votes to overturn the election result in his state.

The Democrats want and need to make an effort to prove Trump’s misdeeds and violations of the Constitution, and thus send a message that such behavior will not be tolerated in a democracy. “Some people would like us to turn the page, ‘Oh, let’s move on,’” Democratic Rep. Madeleine Dean told CNN on Sunday. But convictingTrump and permanently disqualifying him from ever holding office again would be the first, important steps toward unity, said Dean, who will present the case before the Senate together with other members of the House of Representatives.

This view will be embraced by Dean’s own supporters, but not by Trump’s followers. Instead, the trial will allow Trump supporters to feel affirmed in their view of the other side. That does not make it easier for Biden to be the president of all Americans, as he has declared time and again. But many of the executive orders which he signed during his first days in the Oval Office to overturn Trump policies, won’t help him serve all Americans, either. Even before his inauguration, Biden was reluctant to speak about the impeachment proceedings. “I think it has to happen,” he told CNN on Monday. Biden previously insisted that the Senate refrain from concentrating only on impeachment at the beginning of his presidency.

Who Determines the Headlines, Biden or Trump?

Schumer created breathing room for Democrats in his deal with McConnell. But it comes at the cost of having Trump overshadow Biden’s political agenda for even longer. The first impeachment trial against Trump lasted for three weeks. It could proceed more quickly this time, according to many members of Congress.

It is in the interest of both parties to refrain from unnecessarily drawing out the proceedings. The trial shows how divided the Republicans are in their dealings with Trump. And it hints that the unity which Republicans speak about does not mean rapprochement with the Democrats, much less a complete break with Trump.

Those who have still not distanced themselves from their former president and are not planning to do so consider the impeachment process to be unfounded. In their calls for unity, they are solely concerned with covering up their president’s alleged failures. Speaking on Fox News, Sen. Marco Rubio called the case “stupid” and “harmful for the U.S.” “We already have a flaming fire in this country, and it’s like taking a bunch of gasoline and pouring it on top of the fire,” Rubio said. Rubio said nothing about who has been fanning those flames for the last few years.

At Least 27 Republicans Oppose Impeachment

Those who want to free their party from the label of Trumpism are forced to take a public position in this with a clear verdict, something which they have avoided for four years. The trial directs attention to Trump and his presidency, which McConnell wants to avoid. It is doubtful whether Trump will actually be convicted. Seventeen Republican senators would have to vote with the Democrats for conviction. The New York Times polled 50 conservative senators; according to the results, 27 are against conviction, 16 are undecided, and seven did not respond. Even Mitt Romney, who voted to convict in the first trial in 2020, did not tell CNN how he would vote this time around.

But only if Trump is convicted can another additional vote be taken that would prevent Trump from ever running for president again. And that, along with Trump’s public humiliation, would be the sole strategic advantage that the wing of the party that wants to distance itself from Trump could extract from the trial. For precisely this reason, McConnell should be in favor of the impeachment trial, even if publicly he only says that he will consider all the judicial arguments.

Trump has not yet spoken publicly on the matter. But shortly after the article of impeachment was delivered to the Senate, he emailed his supporters about how he wants to keep the public informed in the future, now that his Twitter account has been suspended. Trump has opened an Office of the Former President in Florida. At present, only a logo is visible on its website. Trump will be represented at the impeachment trial by Butch Bowers, a South Carolina attorney. But the full team has not yet been put together. That may well be because, as many U.S. media outlets have reported, the ex-president is having difficulty finding a lawyer.

On Monday, New York Times columnists Gail Collins and Bret Stephens wrote a column in which they asked: “Are We Ready for a Monday Without Trump?” Biden is not the only one who would gladly say yes, with an eye to his own agenda. Many other politicians and citizens are ready for a time beyond Trump. But the last four years cannot be repressed so easily, and not just because of the impeachment proceedings. For Biden, it will require above all a balancing act between reckoning with Trump’s presidency and the need to look forward. A few Trump headlines are definitely still in store.