The votes are in! Donald J. Trump has officially become the third president in United States history to be impeached.

On December 18, 2019, the Speaker of the House, Nancy Pelosi, held a vote within the House of Representatives on the Articles of Impeachment. Members of the House could vote for, against, or abstain on the issue of impeachment. 

There were two articles made as means to impeach him. The first article: Article I: Abuse of Power. This article charges Trump with the abuse of power by pressuring Ukraine to assist him in the re-election by denouncing a Democratic rival. No Republicans voted to impeach him on this article, though 230 Democrats voted for impeachment. The second article: Article II: Obstruction of Congress. This article charges him with not responding to the multiple subpoenas that congress sent out.  Once again, all Republicans voted against, but this time around only 229 democrats voted. The abstained? Democratic candidate Tulsi Gabbard. 

Tensions arose when the Democratic party called her a “sell-out” and even questioned why she was running as a candidate as not voting is equivalent to voting against. Nevertheless, it was clear that the Democrats felt strongly about impeaching Trump. With a benchmark of 210 votes, Donald Trump became an impeached President.

But what does impeachment mean exactly? In simple terms, impeachment solely means going on trial by the House. The House of Representatives conducted a series of investigations and found Trump guilty of two (the two articles). Furthermore, they drafted up said articles and when Pelosi decided it was time to vote, they voted. 

In order for Trump to get kicked out of office, the articles must be sent to the Senate -who I might add is majority Republican. They’ll vote on kicking him out of office.

The criticism when it comes to Pelosi is that she rushed to impeach Trump. Now that he is officially impeached, she refuses to send the articles to the Senate. Which poses the question: why rush in the first place?

Some argue that she is waiting for the right time, specifically when Trump screws up with the Republican party as well. She’ll casually slip the articles on to the Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell’s desk in anticipation of the removal of office. Others argue that the articles don’t have enough on them to kick him out of the office and that it will jeopardize her political career.

Regardless of when she decides to send it, it is almost guaranteed that it won’t have an effect on the 2020 general elections. The Republican party stands behind Trump so much so that the vote became a unanimous decision amongst them. It can also be practically guaranteed that the Senate will not kick Trump out of office.

The general election will be held on Tuesday, November 3, 2020. Until then, Trump still remains President. He will still have his seat in office, will remain commander in chief, continue to have checks on congress and the SCOTUS, but most of all, he will continue to prepare for his presidential bid.