President Donald Trump has been officially impeached for a second time, with the latest attempt striking me as no more legitimate than the last. As I’ve shared in other articles, factually, I don’t believe Trump ever incited violence on January 6th when a group of QAnon morons rushed the Capitol Building. He pointedly said to protest “peacefully” in his speech given prior to the action. While his previous comments on the election being stolen may have gotten people worked up, that’s hardly a viable standard for incitement — otherwise, many more politicians would be in jail right now.

Looking at all the aspects of this, I simply don’t believe there’s some deeply principled, justified reason to be impeaching Trump after he’s left office. Right now, the Senate trial isn’t even scheduled, and the President is gone on Wednesday.

Now, a Democrat House Impeachment manager is giving the game away. This has always really been about stopping Trump in 2024.

A House impeachment manager acknowledged on Sunday that one reason for charging President Donald Trump with incitement of insurrection was to prevent the outgoing commander in chief from trying to become president againhttps://t.co/H3ttnr6Nje

— POLITICO (@politico) January 18, 2021

A House impeachment manager acknowledged on Sunday that one reason for charging President Donald Trump with incitement of insurrection was to prevent the outgoing commander in chief from trying to become president again.

“One of the other purposes of impeachment in this case is to make sure that President Trump is not able to run for federal office again, that he’s not able to seek the presidency,” Rep. Joaquin Castro (D-Texas) told George Stephanopoulos on ABC’s “This Week.”

There’s nothing quite as democratic as abusing the constitutional power of impeachment, moving forward on mere partisan supposition, in order to stop voters from having the opportunity to vote for who they want. Would I prefer an 80 year old Trump as the nominee in 2024 over some other options? No, I wouldn’t, but you’d better believe I think voters have the right to make that decision individually.

Democrats are terrified that carrying a failing Biden administration into 2024, with an awful standard-bearer like Kamala Harris at the forefront, is a recipe for a Trump resurgence. Of course, if they were smart, they’d let this impeachment nonsense go. Perhaps Trump gets bored and decides he’d rather play golf for the rest of his days? But if you poke the bear, don’t be surprised when he bites. This is only going to fire up Trump and his supporters more to make another go at it.

Regardless, impeachment shouldn’t be used this way. It was never meant to be a tool used under specious circumstances to stop a political opponent from being able to run for office again. No crime was committed here by Trump, nor is there any evidence of actual incitement on Trump’s part. Voters should get to make their own decision on the matter, not some partisans in Washington hoping to take advantage of short-term hysteria.

(Please follow me on Twitter…@bonchieredstate)