The nightmare of a Donald Trump presidency has reached a critical point, with the House of Representatives poised to finalize impeachment proceedings against the president as of writing this.
It took quite an effort to rally the support of the majority of Democrats to support impeachment, but we're finally here. While it is disturbing that the president engaged in pressuring a foreign government to dirty up a political opponent, it is also safe to say that there is a multitude of reasons why this president should have been impeached earlier — separating parents and children at the border parents and children at the border, inspiring and mobilizing a new generation of white nationalism, normalizing the demonization of a free press, the list can genuinely go on and on.
And those very reasons are why we cannot stop at impeachment alone. While I celebrate this milestone in the resistance against Trump, this cannot be the end-all-be-all, especially with a forthcoming election that will shape the country for years to come.
While Trump getting impeached is a huge precedent with a check on his rabid use of the presidency, the culture shock he has emanated with his power is going to require something much more than a purely political process.
Impeachment will not stop the normalization of white supremacy.
Impeachment will not stop the unbearable influence of pharmaceutical and oil lobbyists giving a revisionist narrative on skyrocketing healthcare costs or the global threat of climate change.
Impeachment won't stop the scapegoating of Lord knows how many marginalized groups that Trump has done with every single day of his presidency.
No political process, no matter how symbolic, has ever stopped an abhorrently rampant political movement in its tracks.
Should Trump be removed, America would see Mike Pence, who's been accused of homophobia, take the helm of the Oval Office, and we'll continue to have a senate that is controlled by a man who had no qualms blocking a duly nominated Supreme Court nominee purely for political gain.
While Trump should be held accountable for his behavior regarding Ukraine, we should also hold him accountable for all the other horrendous acts of violence he has presided over during the past three years. Do not take the bait that this is at all normal. Neither should you take the bait of all the childish things that he tweets nearly everyday.
Keep your eye on the prize, and don't bask in the victory of impeachment too much, because it's up to us to change the culture and end this political nightmare we live in.
