US President Donald Trump was impeached for the second time by Congress on January 12, eight days before he was set to be replaced by Joseph Biden in the White House. Trump became the first president to be impeached twice.

In the impeachment case, Trump was charged with “incitement of insurrection.” He was found responsible of peddling disinformation for several weeks about the November 2020 elections and during his speech in a rally on January 6 which resulted in “violent, destructive and seditious acts.” These acts refer to the failed attempt of pro-Trump groups to overrun the US Congress wherein five were killed and scores were wounded.

Aside from the said speech, the impeachment complaint also contained Trump’s attempts to subvert election results in Georgia. Trump was first impeached by Congress in December 2019 but was acquitted by the Senate in January 2020.

The impeachment is the culmination of the political and economic crisis in the US which is characterized by the worst health crisis, worsening jobs crisis and the sharpening of the American people’s dissatisfaction with Trump’s anti-immigrant, racist and fascist administration.

Attack on Capitol Hill

On January 6, more than 2,000 Trump supporters stormed the Capitol Hill where senators and representatives were holding a ceremonial counting of electoral votes. The counting was the last step to declare Joseph Biden as the 46th president of the US.

The Capitol Hill attack took place after more than two months of Trump’s denial of losing the elections. He has repeatedly declared, without basis, that he won by landslide while electoral results showed a wide gap between him and Biden. Biden was way ahead of Trump by 7 million votes in the popular vote. He also led in the electoral votes—306 votes to Trump’s 232.

Hours before Trump’s supporters overran Congress, Trump incited them to attack by telling them to “march to Congress” to “stop the steal” of the elections. Some of them were armed and planned on “arresting” those who Trump named as “enemies of democracy.”

Inside Congress, 100 representatives and 13 senators planned on questioning the electoral results. The US is now investigating the role Trump’s partymates played in the siege.

Ouster by whatever means

The impeachment pushed through after Vice President Mike Pence refused to remove Trump from office through the Amendment 25 of the US Constitution. The said amendment allows the president to be removed from office, with the help of Congress, and be replaced by the vice-president.

According to Democrats, it is important to impeach Trump so that his case will serve as precedent and in order to ban him from running for any government office in the future.

At the end of his term, officials, businesses and his partymates have gradually distanced themselves from Trump. Many of his cabinet members have also resigned. More companies have withdrawn their donations to the Republican Party.

Prior to this, social media companies (Facebook, Twitter and Instragram) have suspended Trump’s accounts which he has been using to incite violence and sow disinformation for a long time.

In the morning of January 20, midnight in the Philippines, Biden took his oath as the 46th US president and Trump’s reign came to an end.