Fake news is the epicenter of stagnation in current U.S. politics. 68% of people now say made-up news and information “has a big impact on the confidence of Americans’ confidence in government,” According to the findings of a recent study conducted by the Pew Research Center.

Lack of awareness of reality has widened the divide of the public. Instead of pro-fact, people are increasingly pro-politician. This may be no revelation. The real problem with uninformed media is that everyone is engaging in it. 

The implications of deceptive policymaking can be divisive and dangerous, leading to unproductive resolutions. This same principle applies to the impeachment inquiry.

To impeach is “to charge a public official before a competent tribunal with misconduct in office,” Merriam Webster states. A balance of powers was created in the federal government as a preventative measure for abuse. If corruption is suspected, the constitutional process led by the judicial and legislative branches ensues. 

This inquiry is informing current and future officials that they cannot take advantage of their position in the U.S. government and get away with it, even if he is proven innocent of a quid pro quo with a foreign government.

Impeachment is not “only” — if at all — a liberal attempt at undoing the results of the 2016 presidential election. It is a longstanding and legitimate procedure. The successor of President Donald Trump will be his Republican Vice President, Mike Pence. This is not a matter of left or right — it is a matter of right or wrong. The president is selected to serve and required to abide by the standards of the law. If, in fact, through a fair and public investigation, he is found to have overstepped his command, he should be held accountable. As should anyone else.

Trump’s 2016 victory did not require a broad trust of the American people. He lost the popular vote by a significant 2.9 million votes less than his Democratic opponent, Hillary Clinton.This was only 61.4% of the citizen-voting age population, the U.S. Election Atlas reports. 

Out of the near 40% of the potential voters who opted out of this past election, the number who attributed their absence to a “dislike of the candidates or campaign issues” almost doubled to 25%, up from 13% in 2012.

As of Oct. 9. Fox News even admitted that 51% of Americans support impeaching Trump. Our opinions are split. In 2016, the people did not trust either party in the respective process, they still don’t.

Nancy Pelosi, Speaker of the House, has called Trump’s apparent actions in Ukraine a “betrayal of his oath of office [and]… of our national security.” She has also been discredited for what the Wall Street Journal has termed a “Democratic impeachment double standard.” 

In 1998 on the house floor, speaking in regard to the previous impeachment inquiry, Pelosi remarked, “we are here today because the Republicans in the House are paralyzed with hatred of President Clinton. And until the Republicans free themselves of this hatred, our country will suffer.” The same has been said for Trump. On the other side we have Trump at the center of the claims haphazardly tweeting it as a “witch hunt.”

What would be bad for our country would be a betrayal of its integrity. 

As a democratic society we cannot get lost in biased propaganda. We need to push legislators and social media platforms — beyond Twitter’s ban on political ads — to take responsibility in regulating the truth of the information they provide. 

Until then, we the people should also be more responsible in what we read and how we analyze it.A vote is not just a judgement of eligibility of governmental candidates, it is a declaration of faith. 

Out of fear of reprisal and replacement, there should be worry that too many extreme-leaning legislators may feel threatened by the deep, present political rift and compelled into compromise of action. All parties should be careful not to get swept up by fabricated media.

In the end, not every U.S. resident will be well-educated in politics. This is why we elect qualified individuals into a government in the first place: to regulate it. The growing distrust of the public in the government is killing its ability to perform; and it’s the authority of the government to fix it.