WASHINGTON—The end of the Senate impeachment trial of former President Donald Trump sets the stage for his successor to pursue his agenda with a Congress no longer encumbered by the wrenching task of accounting for the storming of the Capitol on Jan. 6.
The reality for President Biden, however, is that in pursuing priorities from pandemic relief to measures to address climate change and infrastructure renewal, he will have a difficult time achieving the bipartisanship the Senate showed in the trial that failed to convict Mr. Trump.
To the disappointment of congressional Democrats, Mr. Trump on Saturday evening was acquitted on the charge that he incited the Jan. 6 riot because House managers fell short of the 67 Senate votes needed to convict. But seven Republicans—some staunchly conservative on many issues—joined all 50 Democrats in voting to find Mr. Trump guilty of inciting the insurrection, the most bipartisan support for conviction in a presidential impeachment.
Republicans, who no longer control the White House or either chamber of Congress, are now divided between those who back Mr. Trump and those who wish he would fade away. For many, the path to recovering power will mean uniting those two factions around a common cause.
By the Sunday morning after the impeachment trial, it was clear that one cause will be to rally in opposition to Mr. Biden’s agenda, and the GOP’s most strident voices were already signaling that fight. “My goal is to win in 2022 to stop the most radical agenda I’ve seen coming out of the Democratic presidency of Joe Biden,” said Sen. Lindsey Graham (R., S.C.) on Fox News.
Source: WSJ – US News
