Andrew Johnson was impeached for firing a cabinet secretary who Congress told him he wasn’t allowed to fire. He has acquitted by one vote, straight down party lines. This is no longer an impeachable offense.
Richard Nixon was going to be impeached for hiring people to break into the Democratic headquarters to steal dirt on a political opponent, and then failing to cover it up. He lost all support from Congress, even from his own party, and would have been convicted by the Senate, but he resigned and got pardoned before it could happen.
Bill Clinton was impeached for lying to Congress under oath about getting a blowjob from an intern. Cheating on your wife is bad, abusing the power of the presidency to have sex with an intern is bad, lying to Congress is bad, he was guilty and should have been convicted, but Republicans only impeached him because Newt Gingrich had an agenda against; it would be like if the Tea Party impeached Obama for the drone program, yes it was bad, and he should have faced consequences for it, but they did the exact same thing, so it’s not like they really care about the issue, they just want to punish their opponent.
Donald Trump was impeached for blackmailing a foreign power into finding dirt on a political opponent. He was acquitted because Republicans didn’t want to hold him accountable, even though he admitted he did it. His defense, his only defense for everything he does, and a very reliable defense at that, is to do something terrible out in the open and claim that makes it okay. He knows his party could never convict him for it because his base loves it, so he dares anyone to try and touch him, and they don’t, and he gets away with it again. It’s his way of testing the waters to see how far he can go, and turns out it’s pretty fucking far.
Donald Trump was impeached the second time for ordering an angry mob to storm the Capitol Building and disrupt the constitutional process of counting the electoral college votes; many of the terrorists had guns and handcuffs, intent on either kidnapping or killing Democratic politicians because they were mad that their candidate lost an election fair and square, like in every single other election since 1788. He admitted it, on camera, telling them to “fight like hell,” and his defense is that because he did it in public, that means it’s not a crime. It was figurative, he was joking, he cant control control what his supporters choose to do on their own time. And it’s going to work, he’s going to be acquitted, though I’m guessing it’ll be a larger margin than last time; last time, only one Republican broke rank to side with the Democrats, Mitt Romney, and even then it was only for one of the two charges. This time, with a single charge, I can see maybe 3 - 5 Republicans voting to convict, made up of old guard “moderates” who are 1) in safe states, 2) just won re-election, or 3) are lame ducks who retire in 2022. They all have nothing to lose.
