Donald Trump is not the reason that 40% of Americans can’t afford a $400 expense. He is not the reason that 45,000 people die each year from lack of health insurance, nor is he responsible for the recent decline in American life expectancy. He did not create the opioid epidemic, nor the student debt crisis, nor the climate crisis.

Many liberals see impeachment as validation of the idea that President Trump is an aberration- a uniquely unqualified man who managed to sneak into the White House through some combination of dumb luck and shady dealings. This may be true, but the impeachment trial is not worthy of the political energy and media coverage being devoted to it. Our country’s problems run far deeper.

Fans of impeachment seem to believe that we can return to pre-Trump normalcy, but there is no going back. He will either serve as a wake-up call, creating a mass movement with the power to address the people’s material needs, or he will ring in a long line of racist demagogues as liberals stay home and appeal to the invisible referee. Don’t let the Senate trial distract you from the choice that lies in front of us.