Trump's historic 2nd impeachment trial hangs over Biden and Republicans

Donald Trump's unique second impeachment sealed history's verdict on a corrupt and disgraced presidency. But the political endgame of this tragic saga is only now beginning and will decide the extent of America's recovery from his malevolent term.

The soon-to-be ex-President's Senate impeachment trial will mean his toxic presence will pollute the opening of Joe Biden's presidency. It will also seriously complicate his successor's quest to leverage the apex of his power in his early days in office to get a grip on a murderous panic that's never been worse.

Trump's disastrous final days in office have brought the Republican Party to an existential moment. How GOP senators decide to deal with the strongman who bullied and manipulated them for five years will show whether their out-of-control party can revive its conservative soul or is destined to race into a conspiratorial, anti-democratic dead end.

The Senate trial -- unlike the first time around -- will take place under Democratic Party control and will not unfold in a vacuum. The reaction to Trump's latest impeachment and acrimonious exit from office will wash across an uneasy, angry nation, traumatized by the Washington insurrection he inspired.

The tens of thousands of troops and security forces should be able to secure Biden's inauguration, but FBI warnings of uprisings in 50 states reflect the brittle atmosphere, which the trial could make even more tense.

The coming weeks will make clear whether the fury and radicalism inspired by Trump will recede when he is in internal political exile in Florida. Or they will reveal if something more serious is brewing -- even an unthinkable White nationalist insurgency triggered by Trump's refusal to accept his election defeat that will preoccupy the already crisis-challenged Biden presidency.