The second impeachment of former President Donald Trump is bound to have the same negative conclusion as the first one while he was still in office, according to former national security adviser John Bolton.
In commentary posted Monday by the National Review, Bolton asserted former presidents and other ex-officers subject to impeachment can't be tried for impeachment — and a more effective punishment for Trump is to ignore him.
“Like Impeachment 1.0, the 2021 edition is badly conceived, poorly executed, and likely to produce precisely what the first round did: results 180 degrees contrary to the objectives that impeachment supporters say they want,” he wrote.
“Holding Trump ‘accountable’ is not the only cost-benefit metric, or even the right one,” he added. “The real measure is whether the country will emerge from the ordeal better than when it entered, not how gravely Trump is damaged.”
Bolton, who left the White House in 2019, said he doesn’t believe Trump is innocent of inciting insurrection but warned a second acquittal could give more oxygen and publicity to a man he once called “dangerous.”
"Attention is what Trump lives for," Bolton wrote. "If his foes really wanted to punish him, if they wanted to inflict the most terrible fate possible, they would simply ignore him. They could organize societal 'shunning' of Trump, as some religious denominations do."
"Nor would a Senate conviction bring closure to the Trump era; instead, it would simply add fuel for the Wurlitzer and the 'stab-in-the-back' narrative Trump is already crafting," he added.
Democrats delivered the article of impeachment to the Senate on Monday night, and senators are set to be sworn in as jurors on Tuesday. A trial is expected to begin the week of Feb. 8.
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