President Donald Trump has built his entire political career off of bad press. No matter how awful the behavior, Trump and his supporters are able to turn their bad behavior into another reason why he is going to “Make America Great Again.” His impeachment follows this same pattern. If Trump is not voted out of office, he will use this as momentum into the upcoming 2020 presidential election.

Trump’s impeachment has been on the front page of almost every news outlet since the House of Representatives accused Trump of impeachment on charges of abuse of power and obstruction of Congress in September. Impeachment initially sounds like Trump’s ticket out of the White House, but as most have come to learn, it is not that simple.

Although the impeachment is important symbolically to the American people, impeachment from the house does not affect the president; he is not removed from office and he can run again in the next election. To this day, he continues to deny all allegations and blame his impeachment on leftists, democrats or simply on “them,” which creates a scary entity for his supporters to fear and hate. 

The House voted and approved the articles of impeachment on charges of abuse of power and obstruction of Congress against Trump Dec. 18, 2019 and Donald Trump was officially impeached. Later that same day, Trump posted a meme on his Twitter of him pointing like Uncle Sam with the text, “In reality they’re not after me they’re after you, I’m just in the way.”

So far, his impeachment has just created free publicity that he will use to fearmonger and further polarize U.S. politics.

If the House vote passes, the matter is sent to the Senate where they have a trial. During said trial, the Senate voted 49-51 to block the motion that would allow witnesses in the Senate trial. This vote enables the Senate to move forward from the trial to the final voting process. 

This vote against allowing key witnesses most likely damages the chance of the Senate voting Trump out of the White House, but it shows the American people that the GOP want to have their heads in the sand. The fact that they do not trust their president enough to allow witnesses against him is telling. 

We are now approaching the final step — the Senate vote. 

If two-thirds of the chamber believe the accusations against Trump are true and that they should result in his impeachment, he will be out of the White House and Vice President Mike Pence will take over. The United States has never gotten past the final voting stage and this pattern will most likely continue with President Trump. 

Trump is almost certainly going to be acquitted and he will probably use this “win” to fire up his supporters, but this outcome cannot erase what went on during the past few months. Although the impeachment has positively affected his chance of reelection in 2020, he has been stamped with the seal of impeachment and will be for the rest of history. 

Trump will forever be an impeached president and he will have to carry the burden of shame that comes with this title.