Impeachment 2.0, which is about to get underway, is extraordinary and unprecedented, as were the acts that brought it about: the effort of a president AND HIS PARTY to overthrow an election, backed by a violent mob. /1

Trump’s lawyers and his supporters have tried to leverage the unprecedented nature of this impeachment as evidence of how determined Democrats are to take down Trump. /2

But it is instead a reflection of just how extraordinary Trump’s violations were: he is facing charges of inciting an insurrection, a second impeachment, and a post-presidency trial precisely because he presents a unique threat to the U.S. /3

Impeachment 1.0 invited comparisons to Nixon’s impeachment: the whistleblower, the transcripts, the similar charges of obstruction & abuse of power. There is no such comparison to make with Impeachment 2.0 because there is no comparison to make with the events that sparked it. /4

At the same time, it’s important to recall that, in important ways, this second impeachment is a continuation of the first. Both were responses to efforts by Donald Trump to leverage conspiracy theories — and the power of the presidency — to manipulate the 2020 election. /5

The insurrection was just another step in a process that had been underway for more than a year — a process continued by the majority of Republicans in the House who, in the hours after the assault on the Capitol, voted to overturn the election. /6

The public supports Trump’s conviction by significant margins. And while his conviction remains pretty unlikely, thanks to Republicans in the Senate, it’s so important that Congress is proceeding with the trial. /7

The trial is necessary to mark the unprecedented nature of his contempt for democracy, to present and preserve evidence of his wrongdoing, and to demonstrate to the American people, now and in the future, that members of Congress reject his attacks on democratic governance. /8

And, for what it’s worth, it’s good to have a record of those who continue to value their loyalty to Trump and his base over their duty to the country and the Constitution. 9/9