Forget Trump and impeachment, focus on rescuing Americans from pandemic, economic distress

Half of Americans say they want the U.S. Senate to convict former President Donald Trump in the upcoming impeachment trial, according to a national poll released Thursday.

Fifty percent of Americans surveyed agreed that Trump should be convicted, and 45% opted for his acquittal in the poll of 1,075 adults conducted Jan. 28 through Feb. 1 by Quinnipiac University.

I didn’t get a call, but you can count me among those weary, frustrated and emphatic “no’s.”

This is no time for another impeachment charade.

Been there, done that, too early and too often.

In December 2019, the U.S. House of Representatives impeached Trump for abuse of power and obstruction of Congress. A vote to convict him failed in the Senate.

Last month, the House again impeached Trump, this time on a charge of inciting the Jan. 6 Capitol Hill riot to prevent Congress from certifying the Electoral College determination that Joe Biden won the Nov. 3 election.

Trump’s second impeachment trial is set to begin on Tuesday.

Democratic lawmakers are also pushing to ban Trump from holding political office in the future, all in the name of upholding the sanctity of the U.S. Constitution.

It’s time to move on.

Yes, the Trump presidency imperiled our democracy. Yes, America has been deeply divided, disrespected and demeaned by Trump.

But this wrongheaded impeachment obsession will only exacerbate America’s deep political divisions and set a vitriolic tone for the Biden era and far beyond.

A conviction is not going to happen. Last month, nearly every Senate Republican voted to declare it would be unconstitutional for an ex-president to be tried in an impeachment proceeding. That vote makes it highly unlikely Democrats will be able to convince 17 GOP colleagues to vote for a conviction.

Congress and the nation desperately need bipartisan healing.

Opinions broke along party lines in the Quinnipiac poll. Among Republicans, 86% said Trump should not be convicted, and 86% of Democrats said he should. Independents favored conviction by a 49-45 margin.

The trial will only enable Trump to continue his incessant bleating that Democrats are on a “witch hunt” and inspire his robotically loyal followers to continue their divisive ways.

For voters like me, an impeachment trial of Trump amounts to a mealy nothing burger. Trump is already gone. How do you impeach a president who’s not a president? Why spend precious time and political capital taking away the power he no longer possesses?

Last week the House impeachment managers requested that Trump provide testimony in the trial. Trump’s lawyers, thankfully, declined. Testimony from Trump would be a raft of lies.

Who wants to hear from Trump? Since he departed the White House on Jan. 20, he has been blessedly silent. No more Twitter. No more White House press conferences.

The loudest sound you will hear from the former president is the click of golf balls as he tools around his Palm Beach golf course.

Congressional Democrats suffer from impeachment myopia.

Forget Trump. Get laser-focused, instead, on rescuing Americans from a worldwide viral pandemic and deep economic distress.

Get to working on ways to bring us together.

Send letters to letters@suntimes.com.