In August 1974, President Richard Nixon was forced to resign in disgrace from the highest office in the land in the wake of the Watergate scandal, in which he was knee-deep in obstructing justice and concealing the crimes that were committed.
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Although his resignation spared him and the American people a certain impeachment trial in the Senate (after the House had already decided to impeach), it exposed him to a flood of criminal and civil lawsuits that not 0only could have humiliated Nixon personally but also diminished the office of the president.
Even if the impeachment had happened and crystallized the principle of equality before the law, it would have undermined even further the legitimacy of the executive branch and the legitimacy of the trailblazing diplomatic agreements (such as the deal with China in February 1972) devised by Nixon (along with his national security adviser, Henry Kissinger), which laid the groundwork for new and more stable world order.
Amid the backdrop, Nixon's successor in the White House, Gerald Ford, decided to grant him a presidential pardon. By doing so – despite the public outcry over the move – he set American politics on a welcome new course outside the heavy shadow of the Watergate trauma.
Today, things are supposedly different. Amid the atmosphere of social strife and polarization, which the 45th president contributed his fair share to exacerbating, there is no chance that Joe Biden, who in three days will be sworn in as the 46th US president, will follow in Ford's footsteps and grant Trump a presidential pardon (although it's possible Trump will pardon himself on the eve of his exit, an unprecedented measure that might not be legal). Moreover, over the past four years, the prestige and status of the White House have been considerably eroded due to Trump's contrarian conduct and defiant, antagonistic approach toward his adversaries at home and abroad.
With that, and despite his irrepressible efforts to challenge the rules of the game and upend the election result, which culminated in his more radical supporters storming the Capitol, it would behoove the Democratic leaders, especially now, to be level-headed and calculating and suspend the impeachment process (which has just moved past the House).
Biden's first test, therefore, in an effort to mend the wounds of the nation and isolate the radical segment of Trump's base, is paradoxically to try convincing his senior party mates in the Senate to act rationally with the long-term goal of stabilizing American society. After all, even if Trump isn't impeached by the Senate, the outgoing president is still likely to end his term isolated and cut off, disgraced and rejected even by many of his own cabinet members, supporters, and yes-men.
We must also bear in mind that if this trend of de-Trumpization of Capitol Hill and the American public continues, impeaching him may not only perpetuate the perilous polarization domestically (which could diminish American's super-power status internationally), but also erase, or at least mitigate all the president's significant achievements, particularly in the Middle East.
Time will tell whether the wave of emotion racking Washington will also impact US foreign and defense policy, which would be to the immense chagrin of the outgoing president.
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