Although it may seem hard to believe for anyone who watched the spectacle, former U.S. President Donald Trump’s recent second impeachment trial in the Senate suggested that American democracy remains strong.
Four years of Trump’s bombast and blatant flouting of precedent and procedure had undermined confidence in the U.S. political system’s resilience. But the impeachment proceedings seemed to affirm the hardiness of the country’s democratic institutions.
The Trump administration shook America by actively rejecting those institutions, culminating in the Jan. 6 invasion of the U.S. Capitol by a Trump-summoned mob. Under President Joe Biden, it feels like solid footing has been regained.