Even though the actual impeachment trial has been ongoing for a few weeks now, the whole process has felt years long. 

The impeachment inquiry was filed by House Speaker Nancy Pelosi on September 24th, 2019, a mere four months ago. Impeachment was filed afterwards by the U.S. House of Representatives on December 18th and Trump was charged with abuse of power and obstruction of Congress. 

After all the time spent on Donald Trump’s impeachment, he was acquitted of both charges on February 5th, 2020.   

So were all of the blood, sweat, and tears that went into the process meaningless? Well, that depends on your point of view. 

Personally, I think that it did make for an interesting few months whilst also bringing out another side of Donald Trump. But I also believe that generally, it was a waste of time. 

Don’t get me wrong, I despise Trump, but I feel it’s been obvious from the start that he wouldn’t be removed from office. 

Despite constant protests outside the White House and Capitol Building and a strong liberal social media presence, the right is just as loud. 

The right is also strong in the most important place: the Senate. And even though the margins were close, 53-47, the Republicans still held the advantage.   

Despite being a Democrat, I didn’t see the point in going through the impeachment process this late into Trump’s presidency. Partially because, at that point, we only had a year left with him (hopefully) and we wouldn’t be much better off even if he was impeached. 

If the Senate had chosen to remove him from office, it would still be difficult for the Democrats to celebrate. Almost bittersweet in a sense. 

Why is that? Because once the president is removed, the vice president takes his place. And unluckily for us, our vice president is Mike Pence, a racist, dim-witted homophobe in support of conversion therapy and probably segregated drinking fountains.

To summarize, he’s a terrible person; one that is possibly worse than Trump himself. 

So what would be the point of impeaching Trump if we would just be left with Pence anyways? To teach Trump a lesson? 

Honestly, Trump doesn’t have enough brain cells to screw in a lightbulb let alone realize his own wrong-doings. And it’s not like having him removed from office would actually keep him out of it. 

Legally, he could run for president again in the November elections and we’d have another four years of presidentially-approved bigotry and stupidity.   

Now, even though our country is currently divided, the impeachment process did bring many together in unity.

Even if it was unity founded in either their support or hatred for the president, it was still unity nonetheless. Thousands of people bonded together for protests and used their rights as Americans to express their opinions. 

And even though I personally don’t agree with most conservatives, they also deserve the right to protest, march, and gather for what they believe (unless it’s racially offensive or harmful to others, a line that is often tread over).   

So, overall, the impeachment process wasn’t completely meaningless, but in the end, it feels almost like a waste of time with Trump being acquitted. 

Many are left feeling empty after not receiving the justice our country so rightfully deserved. Others are ecstatic about the decision, feeling relieved that it’s all over. 

Either way, this impeachment trial gave us all political insight, whether it be positive or negative. Moving on after this process, the election will soon be upon us (times flies in college, trust me). 

If you feel strongly about politics or you simply care about your future and who governs over you, VOTE!   

Abigail is a sophomore Mass Communications major and also an intern at Voice of America in DC.