WASHINGTON, D.C. Jan. 27 (DPI) – Former Trump national security advisor John Bolton this week is offering up more confirmation that Trump was responsible for withholding military aid to Ukraine last summer in an effort to get political dirt on the Bidens.

But this latest development in the impeachment of Trump remains unlikely to change the outcome – no conviction – since Republicans in the Senate still feel no urge to take seriously the charge that Trump abused the power of his office.

It’s all a bit surreal at this point, as Senators continue to debate the ground rules for an impeachment trial, which as of now is unlikely to hear from Bolton or other witnesses who would corroborate the charges against Trump.

Trump is, separate of the impeachment charges against him, the most unprincipled, unscrupulous and mendacious person to ever occupy the White House. There are of course several moments in US presidential history in which a president has abused his power – Lincoln and Roosevelt, among them, both during national crises – but none of those instances involved presidents using it so brazenly to go after political rivals. Nearest to Trump in history perhaps is Nixon, who resigned before he could face an impeachment process stemming from his coverup of a break-in of Democratic National Committee headquarters in The Watergate in 1972.

The fact that Joe Biden, a Democratic political rival, is at the center of Trump’s alleged transgressions – and it is Democratic political rivals who brought impeachment in the House of Representatives – well, it will be well nigh impossible to advance a nonpartisan trial in the face of those core facts. Republicans of course cling to them as well, while the mainstream media rarely points them out. Much of the media trumpets the legitimacy of the process – and it should – but the media ignores the practical political reality of two political parties unwilling to give ground on a matter that involves, well, only one another. It is they alone who are jousting.

If Trump had withheld aid for another reason – say, to get Ukraine to build a Trump casino in Kyev, or to extort preferential treatment for his children’s businesses – the charges would be, well, less political, less likely to remain stuck in the bog of Washington partisanship. Even Republicans would convict a Republican president for engaging in corrupt or criminal behavior – at least behavior that didn’t involve Democrats.

All of what’s happening now is more confirmation that US democracy needs political groups that are more than simply Democrats and Republicans – it needs more independent political interests, which articulate public desires separate of the two political parties.

After three years of investigations and inquiries against this administration, culminating in a Senate impeachment trial, it’s become clear that best way to clean up this political mess is to look to the November election – and for everyone, of every political stripe, to vote. Only an electoral process – respected by all sides – can achieve removing Trump from office.