Democracy, not Trump’s reputation, is at stake in the senate this week

While Trump might be at the centre of the trial, there is something much larger at play, more important than any individual

Former US president Donald Trump will face proceedings in the Senate for a second time this week (Getty)

So here we go again, another impeachment effort reaches the Senate – although the man at the centre of it is no longer an incumbent of the White House.

Much has been made of the political wrangling over the case, with rules over how the trial proceeds still to be decided. Donald Trump’s position has been clear since 6 January – he did not incite the riot at the US Capitol that day. His legal team have phrased it like this: “Even taking every one of Mr Trump’s prior statements about the election in the most negative light, they were, at most, only abstract discussions that never advocated for physical force.”

Trump certainly spoke abstractly about elements of the election; the large-scale fraud he talked about but was unable to prove; and the idea that the scales were weighed against him. But one thing was always very clear: Trump losing the election was not his fault.

If Democrat prosecutors use footage of the events inside the Capitol, it would be a fitting coda to a presidency that was built on Trump’s TV persona. It appears that Democrats have learned their lesson from the paper trail upon which a complicated case was constructed during Trump’s previous impeachment trial. Both sides of the case now appear more straightforward than last time.

Follow live: Trump impeachment news and updates as trial set to begin

However, while Trump might be at the centre of the trial, he is not the biggest thing about it. There is something much larger at play, larger even than the battle facing the Republican Party over how they deal with Trump now he is out of the White House. For on that point, the Democratic Party and the GOP largely agree – they both want to see the back of him.

There has been reporting in recent days – from Politico and others – that Republicans are concerned a conviction would only give Trump and his supporter base fresh impetus, which could harm the party in 2022 and 2024. They would seemingly prefer he disappears quietly. Indeed, the chances of a conviction are incredibly slim, with the Democrats needing 17 Republicans to side with them when the time comes for a verdict.

A significant proportion of US political discourse over the last few weeks has centred on the health of the country’s democracy – and this will always be the most important element. Trump will not be convicted in the Senate, and the GOP will have to find a way to muddle through alongside this new political force they helped create. But it is the wider political ramifications for the country that are key.

Trump ignored diplomatic norms, turned his nose up at long-held US traditions and used his executive power in ways unlike any other president – with Joe Biden having to do something not too dissimilar in his first days in office to undo some of those decisions. But the Biden presidency will generally be a return to a more familiar kind of governance. The problem is whether the deep divisions across the country can be lessened.

Trump was always a man exploiting an ecosystem that had been growing before he finally announced his run for the presidency – it is not something he created. The polarisation between the Democrat and Republican parties had been building. This is what we need to pay attention to during the Senate trial and beyond. This isn’t about one man, no matter the outcome over his actions.

If the divisions that have only deepened during the last four years are allowed to be exacerbated by the Senate trial and become further entrenched, with each new intake into Congress becoming further and further apart on the political spectrum, then everyone will suffer.