国际英语资讯:Yearender: U.S. entering deep water of 2020 election year after a year of political divisive_时事

国际英语资讯:Yearender: U.S. entering deep water of 2020 election year after a year of political divisive

WASHINGTON, Dec. 26 -- The year 2019, which kicked off in Washington D.C. with the longest-ever U.S. government shutdown and the inauguration of a Congress with more partisan split, is drawing to a close with Donald Trump becoming only the third president to be impeached in U.S. history as its final, discordant note.

The drawn-out and stepped-up partisan wrangle now drives America into the deep water of the 2020 election year, almost certain to produce more acrimony, division, and chaos.

At the center, two major events will usher in and help shape the country's bumpy election year: the impeachment trial in the Senate in January that Trump is widely expected to stand, and the highly competitive Democratic primary set to embark in early February.

TRUMP IMPEACHMENT

"I want an immediate trial!" Trump tweeted on Dec. 20.

The president's remark came two days after the Democrat-led House passed two articles of impeachment accusing him of abusing power and obstructing Congress, capping months of closed-door inquiries and public hearings in the lower chamber.

However, Mitch McConnell and Chuck Schumer, top Republican and Democrat in the Republican-controlled Senate, have yet to agree on the rules governing the upcoming trial while House Speaker Nancy Pelosi still won't say if or when she plans to send the Senate impeachment papers.

"The House cannot choose our impeachment managers until we know what sort of trial the Senate will conduct," Pelosi defended her decision in a tweet on Monday.