The facts of the case are clear. On January 6, President Donald Trump encouraged his supporters to march on the United States Congress. In the hours that ensued pro-Trump rioters stormed into the Capitol, looted its historical halls, and defiled America’s citadel of democracy. For this, Trump must be impeached. 

Let’s be frank. President Trump encouraged sedition against the United States government. He placed the lives of congressmen, senators, law enforcement, and his own vice-president at grievous risk. He is a traitor to his country and an existential threat to our democracy. Every day he continues to hold office inches the United States closer to ruin and encourages America’s most powerful enemies. 

President Trump was impeached before, a little more than a year ago in fact, but his latest assault on democracy has brought fresh energy to the fight for his removal. Following his supporters’ assault on the Capitol, efforts to impeach the president have garnered support from hundreds of sitting lawmakers. The effort, spearheaded by House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, is moving at a breakneck pace. The House gaveled in to formally introduce articles of impeachment on Monday, January 11, with a vote expected within that same week.  

President Trump’s rap sheet is long. Any one of his crimes, from colluding with Russians to asking the Georgia secretary of state to fabricate votes for him, merit removal from office in and of themselves. President Trump has refused to respect the results of a free and fair election. He and his lackeys have spun spurious claims of election fraud, all of which have been debunked and unceremoniously laughed out of the nation’s courts. The president actively encouraged states to send alternate slates of electors and egged on his fiercest defenders in Congress to challenge the certification of Electoral College votes. 

The damage President Trump has inflicted will outlive his term. The wounds of the past four years will take time to heal. America is lucky to have a leader like Joe Biden taking up the helm after a disastrous four years of Trump, but America has taken a hit beyond repair. The country’s image on the world stage is shattered. Its enemies are more powerful than they ever have been, and they are making their presence known. Russian agents’ recent hack of US government agencies and China’s round-up of Hong Kong dissidents is a symptom of the United States’ declining moral authority on the world stage. A decline that, though not started by President Trump, has certainly been accelerated by him to an unfathomable degree. 

The president has held America as his emotional hostage for four years. Acts that would have been unfathomable for any previous administration, such as a president asking an election official to find votes or overturn the results of a free and fair election, are now seen as normal and are even celebrated in some circles. President Trump’s dangerous insistence that an election was robbed from him and his supporters incited a fiery mob of thugs to assault one of the world’s most enduring symbols of democracy. 

America has never seen a leader like President Trump. He is mentally unfit. A narcissist. A man whose loyalties rest solely with himself. An opponent of democracy and an admirer of dictators like Xi Jinping and Vladimir Putin. A seditionist and a sore loser.

If, after four terrible years lawmakers cannot find reason in removing him from office, they would be giving their tacit approval of Trump’s legacy. There is no better time than now to remove an authoritarian would-be dictator. It would send a clear message to the outside world: America still stands for the values of democracy that she so often expounds. 

Opponents of impeachment may point to practicality. Trump has fewer than two weeks left in office. Why not allow him to ride out the end of his term? Beyond removing Trump from office, the impeachment process offers its own allures. If removed by the Senate, Trump would be forever barred from running for public office in the United States, would lose his pension and state-provisioned security detail as well as access to classified information. Prohibiting Trump, who as of now maintains an iron grip on his party’s base, from running again is crucial. 

At this critical juncture of history, Congress faces an epic choice. Do they finally hold President Trump accountable for his four-year reign of terror? Or do they give him a pass, and as a consequence validate his presidency? Does Congress allow for another Trumpian figure to rise in American politics, a more confident politician who could spell the end of American democracy once and for all? If America is willing to stand up to authoritarianism, even if it may be too little too late, then impeachment not only becomes a logistical necessity, but also a moral imperative.

All policy or political loyalties aside, if our elected representatives value ideas America promotes—democracy, freedom, individual liberty, rule of law—the path ahead is clear. Trump must fall. Impeach him and save America.