Donald Trump is set to leave the White House in just three days, but could this be the last time he ever serves as president?
The president was hopeful enough voter fraud could have been found in the 2020 presidential election to overturn the outcome, but that never happened.
Then the whispers began of him potentially gearing up for a 2024 run.
Is it possible? Maybe not, with House Speaker Nancy Pelosi’s latest impeachment effort.
Immediately following the U.S. Capitol Hill riots on January 6th, Pelosi and her Democratic majority in the House of Representatives sought to blame President Trump for inciting the violence.
They did just that when they officially filed an article of impeachment against him.
And, the congressional impeachment effort could have some longstanding consequences.
When the House successfully passed an article of impeachment against Trump last week, he became the first president in U.S. history to have been formally impeached twice. And, he may be the first president to be legally prevented from ever running for office again through impeachment.
Congress does have the authority to prevent public officials from running for office under the impeachment process. And, while the issue is still debated by constitutional experts, the impeachment process can be extended to officials after they leave office.
If Congress proceeds with their impeachment effort (the House has passed the article of impeachment but Pelosi has not handed it over to the U.S. Senate to commence the impeachment trial), then they could explore this option.
And, according to a new ABC News/Washington Post poll, a majority of the country wants them to.
ABC News reports:
Nine in 10 Americans oppose the Jan. 6 attack on the U.S. Capitol, seven in 10 say Donald Trump bears at least some responsibility for it and a majority in a new ABC News/Washington Post poll – 56% – favors efforts in Congress to bar him from holding elected office again.
Fifty-four percent in the national survey also say Trump should be charged criminally with inciting a riot for having encouraged his supporters to march on the Capitol. More, 66%, say he has behaved irresponsibly, more broadly, in his statements and actions since the election.
Trump’s supporters are mostly unmoved by his actions and words ahead of the riots — saying he is not to blame for inciting the riots.
Republicans, in general, are also supportive of the president. Despite ten Republicans in the House of Representatives voting in favor of the impeachment effort, a whopping 65 percent of Republicans believe that voter fraud occurred in the 2020 presidential election and that Trump was right to speak out against it.