Donald Trump will go down in the history of the presidency of the United States of America with several dubious feathers on his cap. He is the only president to have faced impeachment proceedings twice — he survived on both occasions, with the Senate recently voting to acquit Mr Trump by a thinner margin on the second occasion. But this acquittal — by a margin of 57-43 votes on the charge of being guilty of inciting a crowd of supporters that went berserk on the US Capitol — need not be read as an exoneration. Even though Mr Trump may no longer be vulnerable to eternal banishment from politics — an impeachment would have been a step in that direction — he remains unprotected in other ways. With the presidential office no longer serving as a shield from legal liability, Mr Trump the Citizen would have to devote considerable time to battle a number of cases in courts.

This sustained demand for accountability is a point that Republicans complicit in Mr Trump’s second escape from disgrace are harping on to argue that the former president has not got away unscathed. But this is a rather lame argument, and the Democrats’ accusation of their rivals’ adopting double standards cannot be dismissed easily. The majority of Republicans chose to defer to what is believed to be a substantial public sentiment that remains favourable towards the former president. The consequences of their capitulation could have far-reaching implications for they signal the willingness of senators to prioritize narrow political imperatives over a greater cause. Unwise decisions on the pedestals of power are often a catalyst in the weakening of the foundations of democracies; American democracy is not an exception to this caveat. Punishing a leader for what, evidently, is a transgression could have served as a deterrent against such predations in the future. But that is not to be. Another message can be read from Mr Trump’s second acquittal. Even though seven Republican senators did exhibit the courage to break ranks with their timid brethren, the spirit of bipartisanship — something that Mr Trump’s successor has emphasized repeatedly — remains feeble. This could only mean that American politicians and the American people remain camped along partisan lines. Joseph Biden’s prayer for healing and reconciliation in a fractious polity seems to have gone unheard so far.