After all the controversies surrounding the impeachment trial of President Donald Trump, we have our final verdict.
President Trump was impeached and charged with abuse of power and obstruction of Congress. The senators charged with deciding the president's fate found that he was not guilty of these charges.
Here are the final vote tallies:
Article 1: Abuse of Power
Not guilty: 52 votes
Guilty: 48 votes
Article 2: Obstruction of Congress
Not guilty: 53 votes
Guilty: 47 votes
After President Trump's State of the Union Address last night, we witnessed Trump highlighting the positives of everything he has done and is planning to do in the future. We also witnessed he and Nancy Pelosi's tense relationship on-screen with an ignored outstretched hand and various disapproving looks toward President Trump during the speech, leaving a mark of unprofessionalism for the Democratic Party.
President Trump's impeachment still stands, this is true.
However, he has not been and will not be removed from office for the time remaining in his term, and he was acquitted of both charges against him.
The verdict everyone was waiting for has been delivered, the decision is final, and there's nothing more to be done.
Has this trial only improved Trump's odds of getting reelected? Did the Democratic Party only harm their own approval ratings? Only time will tell.
The fact of the matter is, a decent chunk of Americans do want Trump out of office — but if we're honest with ourselves, we all knew it wouldn't happen, right? Whether you believe it's because of corruption, money, or the fact that there isn't enough sound evidence to support it, there will never be a result that appeases everyone's wants and needs. There is an undeniable divide in the country but it's not at the fault of our president in my opinion. At the end of the day, it's our choice to divide ourselves whether it be maturity, knowledge, common sense or lack thereof, or literally anything political.
Both sides of the political spectrum have their radicals and extremists and that's the majority of what we see on our major media outlets (or "fake news" as our president likes to call it). It's no secret that the media and both political parties can blow things out of proportion, but it's up to us to recognize this and not feed into it so we can make sound decisions.
Therefore, if you don't like the final decision of the impeachment trial and you think something else needs to be done, vote in the 2020 Presidential election. It's your Constitutional right and obligation as a civically engaged American citizen to do so. If you want to see Trump in office for another term, vote red. If you don't want this, vote blue. If you don't like either primary candidates and decide to vote for somebody else you think will actually win, do that, but just know that it's unreasonable and wishful thinking.
The bottom line: do something about it. Don't just complain and not vote. We experienced this in the 2016 election when people voted for "the lesser of two evils" or didn't vote at all.
Do your research, weigh the evidence, come to a final decision, and vote.
If you don't vote, you don't really have any reason to complain because you decided to exclude your input from the equation in the first place.
Regardless, our president, Donald J. Trump, has been acquitted. Deal with it. Don't like it? Do something about it — preferably something that'll actually work this time.