Aftermath of the Capitol violence

President+Donald+Trump+has+faced+backlash+in+the+wake+of+the+Capitol+riot%2C+but+questions+remain+about+the+next+steps+following+his+second+impeachment.

Photo courtesy / Wikimedia Commons

President Donald Trump has faced backlash in the wake of the Capitol riot, but questions remain about the next steps following his second impeachment.

Following the recent Capitol riot, President Donald Trump has been reproached by some Republicans in Congress, impeached for a second time, suspended from multiple social media sites, and affected in his business dealings.

Just one week after the incident, the House of Representatives voted to impeach Trump. The final vote was 232 to 197, with 10 Republicans voting to charge the president for inciting insurrection. Trump is the first in president in American history to be impeached twice. He was first impeached in Dec. 2019 on account of pressuring Ukraine to investigate the Biden family.

The impeachment has triggered a trial in the Senate. Senate majority leader Mitch McConnell says this won’t happen until the Senate is back in session on Jan. 19, at the earliest 

“I don’t know if there’s going to be enough Republicans to vote to remove Trump,” government teacher Mr. Sandoval said. “Some Republicans are probably not going to vote [to convict him] because they’re going to say, ‘What’s the point?’ We don’t know what’s going to happen.”  

In the technology sphere, Twitter banned Trump’s account on Jan. 8, cutting him off from his usual access to the public. The company cited the risk of further incitement of violence after Trump encouraged his supporters to protest the certification of Joe Biden’s Nov. 3 election victory. Other social media companies, like Snapchat and Twitch, have also suspended his accounts; Facebook and Instagram have issued an indefinite ban.

Since the attack, some Trump administration officials have resigned, such as Education Secretary Betsy DeVos, Transportation Secretary Elaine Chao, Special Envoy to Northern Ireland, and First Lady’s Chief of Staff Stephanie Grisham.

Fallout from the Capitol incident has extended to Trump’s business career as well. The 2022 PGA Championship—a prestigious tournament on the professional golf calendar—will no longer take place at Trump National Golf Club Bedminster in New Jersey. The PGA of America made the announcement on Jan. 10, expressing that going forward with the agreement would harm their brand. The Trump Organization responded by stating that the decision “is a breach of a binding contract and they have no right to terminate the agreement.” In addition, the City of New York will end its contracts with the Trump Organization. Though Mayor Bill de Blasio holds that the termination is legal, the Trump Organization disagrees and asserts that it “is nothing more than political discrimination, an attempt to infringe on the First Amendment.”

The siege of the Capitol on Jan. 6 left at least five dead, including one police officer who died from injuries sustained during the violence. One woman was shot, and the three other deaths were attributed to medical emergencies.  

Both because of the tension surrounding the swearing-in and the pandemic, Joe Biden’s inauguration ceremony will be much different from those of past years. The public is urged not to attend and to participate virtually instead. Security measures, like the presence of the National Guard and a fence around the Capitol, are intended to ensure that Jan. 20 is peaceful.