Before I even start to get into the events that transpired since I last posted, I think it's important to clear a few things up. First of all, Democrats are not being hypocritical when they condemn the riot at the nation's capitol. You can say all you want that Democrats supported rioting in the summer, but that's simply not true. Since the beginning of the violence following the murder of George Floyd and others, the Democratic Party and Joe Biden condemned the violent actions and called for peaceful protests. It may have been easy for some to have missed that condemnation especially if one doesn't follow politics or the Democratic Party platform closely, but as someone who does I guarantee you that those protestors were not acting on behalf of Joe Biden, Nancy Pelosi, or the Democratic Party itself. Additionally, the vast majority (over 90%) of protestors were peacefully protesting police brutality, unjust murder of their fellow citizens, and systemic racism. Unlike the alleged voter fraud that the rioters on Wednesday were protesting, systemic racism has actually been proven to exist with real life evidence (see my last article). So, before you call myself and other outraged Americans hypocrites for expressing our disgust with what transpired on Wednesday, recognize that I and others condemn violent protests in all forms. I was outraged at violence in the summer and I am outraged at violence on Wednesday.

That being said, what happened on Wednesday was far and away worse than anything that happened over the summer. Violent white supremacist Trump supporters laid siege to our nation's capitol in an attempt to obstruct the democratic process. This protest wasn't against racism or social injustice it was an assault on America and her ideals. It was a fight against democracy waged by Trump. He has been planting the seeds of distrust in institutions since before he was ever elected, and his base drank up his lies and allowed themselves to be poisoned by their own feelings of having been wronged by "the establishment", by minorities, by the "deep state", by "big tech" and by a host of other falsely blamed institutions and groups. Trump intentionally exploited feelings of distrust in our democratic process because he understood that he could become the savior of the disadvantaged white American in their eyes. By telling them over and over that the system was rigged against them, and that they have been victimized by the government itself, he created a niche for himself to come to power as the sole actor who could finally set things right. In his words to his base, the government was broken and he alone could fix it. His strategy worked. QAnon further exploited his heroic status by touting him as the savior of our times fighting a war against satanic pedophilic Democrats. Social media algorithms reinforced the strength of his messaging by creating an echo chamber of confirmation bias for those who identified at first with his message of victimization and soon found themselves deep within the grasp of conspiracy theories and right-wing propaganda. And after recognizing the strength of the base he had built for himself, Trump rallied them around yet another lie of a rigged election and exploited their feelings of unrelenting victimization. He pointed his mob at the Capitol like a loaded gun and told them "if you don't fight like Hell, you're not going to have a country anymore." And so they went to the Capitol and they fought against American democracy. They tore down American flags and placed Trump flags in their place. They rampaged through the Capitol rotunda with flags of enemy states dressed in shirts proclaiming "6 million wasn't enough" in reference to the number of Jews killed in the Holocaust. Everything America has stood for in the past, these insurrectionists stood against on Wednesday.

Donald Trump incited a riot and insurrection against the United States of America. Even in his video asking protestors to go home which came hours after they initially breached the walls of the Capitol, Trump praised them as patriots, said they were loved by him, continued to push the outright lie that the election was in any way unfair (again see my last article) and called Democrats and those who were attempting to certify the election results "evil people". His rhetoric is dangerous and inspires people to act violently. These are facts.

Democrats and a handful of Republicans recognize the dangers Trump poses to the nation which he leads. To impeach Trump now is the right thing to do. Some people argue that impeachment should not occur because it will only further divide the nation. This is, for lack of a better phrase, a bunch of malarkey.

The people in this nation who still support Donald Trump after the events that transpired this week will not be swayed in their support by the execution of an impeachment. To argue that impeachment will further divide the nation implies that the action of impeaching will drive people towards Trump and make him a martyr for their cause. But the fundamental shortcoming of that argument is that it assumes that Trump isn't already a martyr for those who still support him. The battle between America and Trump reached its highest peak yet. Those who have not chosen their side and feel that an impeachment will push them to choose Trump in that battle have never been fighting for America. There is no "Trump-Lite" anymore. Before Wednesday there existed those who "supported his economy, not his actions or words" but those people can not sit on the fence of being an anti-American Trump supporter any longer. If an impeachment of a verifiably dangerous man is what causes those people to fall on the side of Trump, they were already beyond reconciliation with American ideals, the constitution, and the rule of law anyway.

Impeachment is not partisan at this point. Impeachment of Trump is a matter of national security, of preserving our constitution, and of setting the precedent that nobody is above the law. Some argue that impeaching Trump this late into his term would be a waste of time. Others fear that it may bog down the first days of Biden's presidency. It is my opinion that to avoid impeachment for these reasons would be more partisan than following the reasonable course of action and constitutional process of impeaching a dangerous president. Postponing or denying an impeachment trial simply with the goal of making Biden's first days in office feel shiny and new would be undeniably more partisan than going through with what must be done to ensure the safety and prosperity of our democracy and our nation.

The Republican Party is in desperate need of a realignment. If you are a Republican reading this, I suggest you realign under the pillars of American democracy and not under a con-man who has continually exploited his base in order to put himself in a position of unquestioned power and undeniably dangerous influence. I've been saying it for months now and I believe I'm still correct; this is a battle between America and Trump. It has been since he ran in 2016 and as long as Trump continues to act against our nation without reasonable meaningful consequences, it always will be. I've chosen the side of America in this battle, and that means impeaching Trump. Which side will you choose?