<p>Congress has just voted to impeach President Donald Trump. Article One, <em>Abuse of Power</em>, carried by a vote of 230 to 197 with one &#8220;present&#8221; vote by Presidential candidate Tulsi Gabbard. Two Democrats defected and voted against the measure, Jeff Van Drew, who has announced he will be switching parties, and Collin Peterson, from Minnesota, in whose district Trump won by 34%. All Republicans voted against impeachment. Two articles of impeachment were passed, one for &#8220;abuse of power&#8221; and the other for &#8220;obstruction of Congress.&#8221;</p>
<p>Article Two, <em>Obstruction of Congress</em> also carried by a similar vote 229 to 198 with one &#8220;present,&#8221; but with one additional Democrat defection.</p>
<p>Trump was in the middle of a rally in Battlecreek, Michigan, and spoke at length about the impeachment to an enthusiastic crowd.</p>
<p>All of this was as expected, in fact, since Democrats called for Trump&#8217;s impeachment shortly after his inauguration. This most recent impeachment effort began this summer when the President asked the president of the Ukraine to investigate areas of corruption, including that of former Vice President Joe Biden. Democrats accused Trump of attempting to force the Ukraine to investigate a political rival and therefore interfere with U.S. elections.</p>
<p>Former VP Joe Biden was caught on video saying that he has threatened to withhold a billion dollars of U.S. aid unless a certain prosecutor was fired. That prosecutor was indeed immediately fired. Biden&#8217;s son Hunter was at the time receiving a very large salary from a company that was the target of corruption investigations. This appears to be a smoking gun that VP Biden&#8217;s actions were to protect his son, and not in the interests of America, a clear conflict of interest and abuse of power.</p>
<p>Some would say that President Trump not only had the RIGHT to investigate someone from the previous administration who blackmailed an ally for personal gain, and who interfered with the relationship with that ally, but also had the OBLIGATION to get to the bottom of the issue and clear the air with this ally.</p>
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<p><strong>What happens next?</strong></p>
<p>The Articles of Impeachment will now go to the Republican dominated Senate for trial. In the unlikely event of a &#8220;conviction&#8221; Trump would be removed from office.</p>
<p>Since the Republicans hold a majority in the Senate there is <em><strong>almost no possibility that the President will be removed from office.</strong></em></p>
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<p><strong>But the Republicans do have some choices.</strong></p>
<p>A. They could immediately acquit President Trump. This would mean that the impeachment process is over with minimal fuss. However, it would not begin to counter the negative propaganda that was generated by the Democrats in the House to harm the President. President Trump has expressed a desired to hold a real trial, controlled by the Republicans, that would highlight the opposing views, bringing Hunter Biden in to testify, and the whistleblower who initially made the complaint. There is speculation that the whistleblower coordinated with Congressman Schiff&#8217;s office before the complaint which would prove a conspiracy against the presidency.</p>
<p>If you have read my other articles, you know that my own conspiracy theory is that Hillary Clinton is behind the attacks on Trump and the impeachment (recall that the Clinton&#8217;s arranged all of the funding for Schiff&#8217;s first Congressional campaign, he is beholden to Hillary). Hillary wants to get into the 2020 race, but she needs Biden to be destroyed so that she can get an initial boost for &#8220;rescuing&#8221; the election. But Biden has weathered the storm so far and if there is no Senate trial, Hillary will not get the initial boost (she will get in anyway, watch for it&#8230;). The Republicans now see Joe Biden as a very weak candidate, and would prefer him to stay in the race. So more the better to keep it short.</p>
<p>B. They could have a long show trial. Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell has already said that he is coordinating the trial with Trump&#8217;s attorneys. This would mean a heavily pro-Trump procedure, covered by all of the media networks, where the (fake) whistleblower, Hunter Biden, copious pro-Trump witnesses and maybe Adam Schiff himself (as a material witness, because of his office&#8217;s contact with the whistleblower). While it is doubtful that liberal networks CNN and MSNBC will cover this with the enthusiasm they did the House proceedings, the coverage could provide a tremendous boost in Trump&#8217;s popularity.</p>
<p>This would indeed destroy Joe Biden and perhaps make way for a Hillary Clinton candidacy. Trump knows that he can finish Biden&#8217;s destruction at any time, should Joe&#8217;s popularity start to rise (unlikely). But Joe&#8217;s presence accentuates the divided Democratic election slate. Without Joe, another candidate may start to gain momentum. Currently, it is mere chaos.</p>
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