As annoying at it is, in this week´s recap we have to talk about the orange in the room. Last Sunday, Chuck Schumer announced that the Democrats would move on with the vote on two articles of impeachment against President Donald Trump before the House of Representatives. Although the President (or at least as much himself as he wrote The Art of the Deal) authored a letter to Nancy Pelosi, demanding to end the “illegal, partisan attempted coup”, on Wednesday the Congressmen were finally forced to vote. After all, following Andrew Johnson and Bill Clinton, Trump had the opportunity of being only the 3rd president in American history to be impeached – Huge! The two articles of impeachment dealt with abuse of power and obstruction of Congress. And indeed, Donald Trump managed to win a popular vote this time – So much winning! With 230 to 197 votes for the impeachment relating to abuse of power and 229 to 198 votes in favor of impeaching the President for obstruction of Congress, Democrats finally achieved what Republicans dared them to for months.
Now the case will move to the Senate where Republicans and Democrats are already fighting over the procedural requirements. While Mitch McConnell, the Senate majority leader, demands a short trial without procedural burdens, the Democrats insist on adhering to the aspects of a fair trial, rather resembling the trial that Bill Clinton had to go through.
It is still doubtful whether Donald Trump can be removed from office, since the Republican majority already unified behind McConnell who skipped a few civics lessons and stated that senators have no obligation to be impartial. Too bad that senators take an oath before the impeachment trial swearing exactly that. But since breaking down constitutional procedures into tiny appetizers for the electorate, spicing it up with small inconsistencies regarding the truth is in vogue, why not go with the flow Mitch?
In other news, UN climate talks were once again halted after major polluters blocked a measure that would have encouraged countries to initiate more ambitious greenhouse gas emission targets. Simultaneously, Australia achieved a new heat record with an average temperature of 40.9°C across the country on Tuesday. What a mystery.
Riots in India over a citizenship bill unconstitutionally targeting Muslim migrants continued to escalate in several cities all over the country and forced the government in Delhi to cut off the internet connection for approximately 60 million citizens.
Across the Channel, the UK´s new government around the, at least apparently to the British electorate, most charming prime minister the country could imagine (and no we are not talking about Hugh Grant in Love…Actually), was sworn in by the Queen.
Now we sign off the week by wishing everyone happy holidays and turning up Mariah Carey´s “All I want for Christmas is You”, which claimed the top spot on the Billboard Hot 100 list for the first time since its release in 1994.
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