The Senate must convict Trump in order to disqualify him from ever holding public office again Later this month, the Senate will come back into session and will soon consider whether to convict Donald Trump, following his bipartisan impeachment by the House of Representatives. The Senate must vote to convict Trump, even though by then he will be out of office and a private citizen. The reason is that only by convicting Trump can the Senate proceed to an even more important vote: to disqualify him from ever holding public office again. And this is absolutely necessary for preserving American democracy in faith with the history, and the principles, that undergird the United States Constitution.