On Wednesday, Speaker Nancy Pelosi announced (finally) that the House of Representatives is launching a formal impeachment inquiry into President Trump. This has been a long time coming. For years, progressives have been calling for impeachment of Trump. It wasn’t until information about a call with the Ukranian President that the ball started rolling.

Emotions are running high. Some progressives are ecstatic and others don’t know how to feel about impeachment. No matter how you may feel about the process of impeachment or what’s going on, we cannot deny any longer that impeachment is necessary and here’s why. 

1. Trump may not be removed from office, but he still needs to be fully investigated.
It’s not likely that Trump will be removed from the White House. That would require the majority Republican Senate to hold a trial, convict Trump, and vote to remove him from office. That’s not likely to happen. However, impeachment still needs to happen. Trump has undermined our democracy, betrayed the trust of the American people, and absolutely disgraced the office of the President. He needs to be held accountable and a message needs to be sent that we will not tolerate a President who violates their oath the way that he has.

2. This has the potential to affect the Republican Party in future elections.
The impeachment process is creating receipts for Republican representatives. What they say and do is going to be heavily documented. They are going to be held accountable by voters and their constituents for how they behave over the course of the next few months. Depending on what comes out during this investigation, Republicans won’t be able to hide behind blind support for Trump anymore. If they say they still support him or don’t regret what they said or how they voted, they would be saying that they support a criminal. No one is above the law.

3. An official impeachment inquiry could guarantee a Democrat President in 2020.
Officially investigating Trump could throw the Republican Party in a tailspin. Some states have cancelled their Republican caucuses and primaries. Trump’s challengers don’t exactly have a good shot and impeachment could destroy Trump’s chances against a Democrat nominee. 

While some people may be scared of what the consequences of impeachment could be, the potential good— and simply finally allowing the American people to get justice— makes this process worthwhile.