Editor, Gazette-Journal:

In the week of Feb. 8, former President Trump will go on trial in the Senate, having been impeached by the House of Representatives for inciting an insurrection. This will be his second trial. The House really didn’t have much choice. It was all on TV for the world to see. The insurrection followed his speech as night follows day.

So he will go on trial even though he is no longer in office. There is no question that this is strange as the main purpose of impeachment is removal from office. So what’s the point? Well, there has to be some punishment for misdeeds by an outgoing president in his last two months in office. He cannot be above the law. If convicted, he can be prevented from running for office again.

Senator Marco Rubio of Florida called it “stupid.” And he’s right! It would be stupid for any Republican to vote against Trump. He still holds enormous power in the Republican Party, is well known to be vindictive and has a $300 million campaign...