Jon Lieber, who leads Eurasia Group's coverage of political and policy developments in Washington, shares his perspective as Congress considers a second impeachment:
Big story this week is the president of the United States is about to be the only president ever to be impeached twice by the House of Representatives. Articles of impeachment should pass the House on Wednesday morning. The difference between this impeachment and the last impeachment is that this time there will be Republican support for the removal from office. A Senate trial can't begin until probably after the president has left office however. So this really isn't about kicking him out. It's about holding him accountable for the riot that happened at the Capitol last week, and potentially disqualifying him from ever running for future federal office. All eyes will be on the Senate and while it doesn't look likely that he will be convicted there, should some of the more prominent leaders in the Senate come out in favor of his impeachment, I think you may find the 17 votes you need in order to convict Trump.
A long shot at this point, but the president's behavior over the last week has not earned him any allies amongst Republicans and is starting to alienate some of their donor base from supporting the Republican Party going forward, which could potentially be a huge problem even after President Trump is out of office. President Trump himself is facing some recriminations about the riot and is losing a lot of sponsorships at his properties. This could lead to future financial pressure on the president, which would of course only increase the importance for him to stay politically relevant as that would be a source of fundraising in an influence in the Republican Party.
So a big historic week here in Washington. With the inauguration next week as well, you have the potential for future violence here in Washington, DC, although with all the defense forces that are armed and the new fence around the Capitol building, that probably seems a lot less likely. However, federal officials are worried about violence at state capitals around the day of Joe Biden's inauguration.
So, 2021 not the quiet year we were expecting. We'll see what happens next.
