GREENSBORO, N.C. — President Donald Trump is only the third United States President to be formally impeached by the House of Representatives in our country's history.
The historic vote took place Wednesday night, largely along party lines. Now, the President will face a trial in the Senate.
We've been talking about this possibility for months, starting with the investigation into the President's alleged abuse of power, to the impeachment inquiry, and now, to the formal House vote - approving two articles of impeachment: abuse of power, and obstruction of Congress.
The process is far from over, and it can seem at times like white noise. But, UNC-Greensboro political science professor Thom Little sat down with WFMY News 2 to explain why this matters.
"This is history, whether you agree with it or not - whether you like it or not. This is history," he said.
Little says, there's a lot still up in the air on whether this will affect the upcoming 2020 elections. He says it could come down to how voters in the middle view the President's impeachment.
"I can't imagine the Democrats realistically ever thought that it was going to pass in the Senate, but I think they were counting on being able to make their case that these were impeachable offense. Yes, he was putting his own interests forward, Yes, he's obstructing justice, and getting those independents on their side. I'm not sure that that's happened," he said.
He said the upcoming election will also depend on which party gets more fired up and turns out at the polls.
"If [the impeachment] gets his base fired up, it is going to help the Republicans in North Carolina all the way down the ballot," he said, "I think the impact is not going to be as much on the message as who is motivated to go to the polls."
Little says one impact that's quite possible is a greater divide in our country's politics.
"Frankly, my fear of the impact is not so much on the election, but I am afraid that we're going to come out of this with nobody trusting anybody anymore," he said.
Little also says the economy will play a big role in the election.
He also noted how this impeachment will not impact foreign affairs all that much.
"I’m not sure that we want to overplay the impact because, and I think this might be unique to President Trump, but I think that he has already changed the dynamic so much internationally," Little said, "To a degree, [they believe] this is baked into the cake. His approach to our allies has been very different, his approach to Russia and North Korea has been very different than most previous presidents. So I think that they already look at our country as being sort of in a state of chaos politically. I think it just adds to that."
The vote comes one day shy of the 21st anniversary of the impeachment of Bill Clinton.
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