President Donald Trump has been one of the most controversial leaders in America’s history, but with his 2016-20 term ending, thoughts have turned towards the upcoming election, which will be the first presidential election that many current Bruins will have the opportunity to vote in. 

President Trump’s term has been met with resistance from liberal and even some conservative politicians, citizens, and media outlets ever since he was first elected. Following an unsuccessful attempt to remove him from office, thoughts have turned to the upcoming presidential election in November. 

The chaos of the recent impeachment, however, has had an impact on the climate surrounding the election. The process of impeachment is often misunderstood, so History Teacher Matt MacDonald explained how it all works.

“The impeachment process takes place in the House of Representatives,” he said. ”Once the case is made for impeachment, the trial actually occurs in the Senate…. 2/3 of the Senators need to find the President guilty for him to be removed from office. Only 3 presidents have officially been impeached in our nation’s history… No president has ever been officially removed from office during a Senate trial.”

Hopefully, this generation is educated about complicated topics like this, because many senior Bruins will be of age to vote in the presidential election for the first time this year.

Senior Colby Greig had something to say about the president.

“I feel like President Trump is what this country needed,” he said, “This country was in debt, and it was not being run well, not trying to say anything bad about the last presidents, just things weren’t happening that needed to be happening and President Trump came in and didn’t act like a president. He was and is not a normal politician, he is a businessman. He is running this country like a business.”

Senior Bella Thornbury offered a rather different opinion.

“Personally, I do not agree with his political opinions,” she said. “His views are very insensitive to people in a class other than his own, not just economically, but socially, because he is a straight white male and he ignores the needs of others in my opinion.”

Senior Leo Jackson had a more neutral view.

“I have a lot of really complicated thoughts because I don’t know everything,” she said. “… I mean, every president’s made bad decisions, every president has made good decisions, it just really depends on the person you’re talking to. I don’t like to be a very opinionated person, so I like to say I’m pretty neutral.”

Bruins went on to add their thoughts on impeachment specifically.

“I feel like people are just going from one thing to the next trying to impeach him with not a lot of real evidence,” Greig said.

Thornbury suggested that opponents focus on winning the upcoming election, rather than focusing on removal from office now. 

“I think that the intents to remove him from office have a good idea behind them, but in practice they weren’t the smartest idea,” she said, “If we remove him from office, the Vice President would be put in charge, and the democrats disagree with Mike Pence even more than Trump… I would say the better alternative would be for no re-election.”

Trump’s Presidency has sparked a lot of controversy throughout the country, inflaming many of those who are invested in politics. Even with his presidency coming to a close, many are still very passionate about his removal, now focusing on electing a different president in November. For now, all we can really do is wait for the 2020 election.

Thornbury had a general piece of advice to give.

“I would say that despite politics, everyone should be nice to each other,” she said.