After three years in office pushing the line of what a U.S. president can do, Donald Trump has finally found the Democrats’ breaking point. Trump’s administration seems to have multiple scandals come to light each month.

However, the Democrats in the House have waited until now to use their strongest response possible: Impeachment.
After a somewhat lengthy trial, the House of Representatives voted to convict Trump by 230-197 to the article of abuse of power and 229-198 on the article of obstruction of congress. But what does Trump’s impeachment mean for Americans and for U.S. politics?

The power of impeachment was given to the House as a check on the president, as it is their duty to use this power to preserve appropriate presidential conduct. The House made it known to history textbooks to come that what Trump did is unacceptable for a president to do.

Another impactful effect of impeachment was the daily broadcasting of Trumps’ misuses of power for months. This media explosion was a way of engaging people who are usually less involved in keeping up with political news. This constant news cycle surrounding impeachment expanded voters’ knowledge on Trump’s misuses of power, which will hopefully bring some undecided voters over to the Democratic Party.

This impeachment does not come without consequences for the Democrats. Since Trump was impeached by the House, this means that the articles of impeachment will be sent to the Senate to either remove Trump or allow him to stay in office. It is clear that with the Republican majority in the Senate, Trump will not be removed.

With Senate majority leader Mitch McConnell saying, “I would anticipate we will have a largely partisan outcome in the Senate. I’m not impartial about this at all.” I predict that Trump will make the Senate’s vote out to be his “exoneration” on the whole case.

This is a possible dangerous impact of impeachment and one that Speaker of the House, Nancy Pelosi, was thoughtful of. If the Senate votes to not remove Trump, this would have a consequence of changing the narrative of Trump’s improper conduct in the media. Making him out to be “not guilty” because of the Senate vote, despite his senior officials admitting what he did was impeccable in the House.

However, no matter what happens it was necessary and important for the House to impeach Trump. The impacts of impeachment are highly polarized from whatever political side you come from, but overall this mechanism of Impeachment is important to use in order to protect our democracy.