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Editor's Note: Dan Restrepo is a lawyer, Democratic strategist and political collaborator of CNN. He was presidential advisor and director for the Western Hemisphere of the National Security Council during the presidency of Barack Obama.
(CNN in Spanish) - A political trial against Donald Trump was perhaps the only predictable thing in his presidency.
But the political implications of that trial are not.
Nor are they simply limited to implications for the president and the Democrats.
The inevitability of the trial comes from the nature of this particular presidency.
And not only because of the fact that he won the presidency by extremely narrow margins with the help - requested or not - of the intelligence services of a country hostile to the United States.
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Nor because of the fact that when he found himself confronted with that reality, instead of taking measures to ensure that no external actor could affect our democratic processes in the future, he launched a sustained campaign against the independent investigation of the conduct of his campaign.
An investigation that despite these attacks resulted in the criminal conviction of several of his close advisors. And an investigation that if he had not been president (with policy protections of the Department of Justice of not prosecuting an acting president) would have resulted in formal criminal charges against him.
The inevitability of this political trial has other roots. In my opinion, it is born from a vision of the presidency as a tool for personal gain. And the abuses of power that flow from that vision.
The summary (although many call it "transcription", it is not because from the time of Richard Nixon the presidential calls are not recorded) of Trump's now infamous call with the president of Ukraine, demonstrates an instrumentalist vision of the powers of government from the United States.
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But instrumentalist in favor not of national interests but of personal and political interests of the president himself.
More than once the summary indicates that the president wanted to involve the Department of Justice and the same attorney general to investigate a political rival.
Also, the summary and actions of the Trump administration regarding military assistance to Ukraine - a country that resists Russian military intervention - in recent months show that the president seems to consider official assistance as a simple tool to blackmail to a foreign government in exchange for a personal political benefit.
It is difficult to think that this call occurred in an isolated way, particularly when the president insists that he did nothing unusual or corrupt in it. Who knows how many more calls of this nature may have occurred.
The time and investigations launched by the House of Representatives to fulfill their institutional and constitutional duty will help clarify this.
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Time will also tell us a lot about the political implications. For Trump, for the Democrats, and for what remains of the Republican Party.
Many will say that playing the victim will help Trump with his base. And it is likely to have that effect.
But it is important to recognize that it is difficult to identify something that the president could do that would not help him with his base. It is a fan base. And that will help you survive politically in the short term.
But to succeed beyond not being the first president in our history to be removed from the presidency by a successful political trial, Trump has to do more than consolidate his political base.
His re-election requires adding voters to his base. A purpose that to date has been almost impossible. It is doubtful that a sustained approach to abuse of power will help in that expansion.
Fulfilling an institutional and constitutional duty is a guarantee of good policy for Democrats. It will help them with their base, which has deep questions about the legitimacy of this president, but could also help them with voters, who are looking for politicians willing to emphasize principles and country over party. Finally, it will reinforce the message that the Democrats are the party ready to restore the dignity to the presidency and the rule of law for the country.
The deepest political implications could prove to be those for the remainder of the Republican party and, by extension, for the welfare of a democracy that requires two strong parties.
The Republican Party and, in particular, those senators facing elections in 2020. Those senators in states such as Colorado, Georgia, Maine and North Carolina will have to decide whether when the trial passes to the Senate, they will vote to protect the president's abuses or They support principles and country above party.
How those senators respond will tell us a lot about the future of the Republican Party and, by extension, the future of the country.
Donald Trump political trial