This week saw the end of the impeachment trial against Donald Trump. After months of investigation and several days of providing evidence, the Democrats were not allowed to bring any witnesses for questioning during the trial. Thus, in the final vote, the Republican senators chose to defend their party lines and all votes to acquit Trump of all charges, except for Mitt Romney, who became the first senator to vote against his party. Thus, the impeachment trial ended with hardly any surprises, though it did raise many questions about partisanship and justice.
Trump continues his “victory” week with the scheduled State of the Union address, which was heavily criticized by House Speaker Nancy Pelosi as a compilation of “mistruths.” Pelosi was seen tearing up the printout of the President’s speech as soon as he finished speaking.
Meanwhile, the race to elect an opponent who will represent the Democratic Party and face Trump in the November elections has begun. This week there was a lot of confusion as the Iowa caucuses reported inconclusive results; we are still awaiting to see if any of the candidates will request a recount, which could delay the official confirmation of the results by a few more days. But from the current state of things, Pete Buttigieg surprisingly took the top spot, with just 0.1% of an advantage over Bernie Sanders, leaving Elizabeth Warren a whole 6% behind, while Joe Biden, the early favorite, lagged almost 11% behind Buttigieg.
Now the top seven Democratic candidates are preparing for a crucial debate to take place in New Hampshire tomorrow. The results of the debate will likely have a strong bearing on the Tuesday vote, which would show if the Iowa results were a fluke or if Pete Buttigieg, a largely unknown figure and former Mayor, is shaping up to be the leading candidate to run against Donald Trump.
