Impeachment Isn’t About Trump Crossing the Rubicon

As the Cambridge historian Mary Beard writes in her compulsively readable 2015 history "SPQR," the death of the last Gracchi brother in 121 B.C, set the stage for "three more sustained civil wars or revolutionary uprisings (there is often a hazy boundary between them)."

As terrifying and tragic as those hours at the Capitol were last week - and they were - it's crucially important to note that, hours later, the machinery of government reasserted itself, and the House and Senate reconvened to certify the victory of President-elect Joe Biden and Vice President-elect Kamala Harris.

The Capitol siege cast a light on an already present, and now growing white nationalist movement that Trump, who is ignorant of history but savvy at manipulation, was able to turn to his political advantage to win the White House. And then, abetted by the conservative echo chamber, he weaponized them when his defeat was assured.

Now Washington and state capitals across the country are bracing for a potential repeat of that violence during marches and protests scheduled for this weekend. We've already seen the images of scores of National Guard soldiers sleeping on the floor of the Capitol. We're at a turning point in our politics. But it is not without precedent.

In his "Meditations," one of the last great emperors, Marcus Aurelius, admonished readers (and himself) "to bear in mind constantly that all of this has happened before. And will happen again - the same plot from beginning to end, the identical staging."

These are the historical realities that the Senate, which seems to have trouble thinking beyond the next news cycle, must keep in mind when it tries Trump. The government also must move swiftly to find, charge and try those responsible for the violence.

Fair trials, met with stern punishment for the guilty (which should include political banishment for Trump and rebukes to his enablers), will not only send the signal that our system remains strong and vital, but also remains a beacon for the rest of the world.

So that next time, when someone who might actually be able to pull it off thinks about crossing the Rubicon, they won't get any further than the water's edge.

An award-winning political journalist, John L. Micek is Editor-in-Chief of The Pennsylvania Capital-Star in Harrisburg, Pa. Email him at jmicek@penncapital-star.com and follow him on Twitter @ByJohnLMicek.