Since Dwight Eisenhower’s inauguration in 1953, US presidents have joined an informal club intended to provide support - and occasionally rivalry - between those few who have been ‘leaders of the free world’.

Donald Trump, elected on a promise to ‘drain the swamp’ and a constant mocker of his predecessors, has never looked likely to be welcomed into that elite fraternity. But today Trump started a new club of which he is the only member - presidents who have been impeached twice. He was already a member of a few exclusive clubs - one of only three presidents to be impeached once, one of only five who lost the popular vote when they won, one of only three to lose the popular vote twice, and one of the few who only served one term (and not because he was assassinated). But this is something unique.

Where Richard Nixon rehabilitated himself to some extent as a foreign policy elder statesman and Jimmy Carter went from unpopular one-termer to widely admired former president doer of good, there seems little way back for Trump. At the very least his claim to ultimate outsider status, his narcissism and, ultimately, the likelihood of jail time means he is unlikely to redeem himself.

On one level the events of the past week tell us nothing we didn’t already know about Trump - his vainglory, arrogance, mammoth lack of empathy and public interest, his disrespect for the values and systems that underpin government and his casual callousness have been demonstrated time and again.

This has been the week of ‘too little, too late’. The Republicans who have suddenly found the voice needed to criticise Trump deserve to be noted for that. But neither we should forget their silence as he profited from his presidency, used US aid dollars to compel foreign governments to investigate his political enemies, paid off women who he slept with, told aides to lie under oath, bullying public servants, obstructing justice in the Mueller investigation, admitted sexual assault and his refusal to ensure a peaceful transition of power.

Everyone has their own lines and moral flashpoints, but any one of those could be argued to be more damaging to the wider US population that last week’s mob raid on the Capitol Building. Yet it was only when the politicians themselves faced danger, that the mood changed and some of those who had enabled Trump started to speak out.

It should be noted how many politicians only seemed to feel strongly about the rule of law, when the implications of Trump’s corrupting of the office came crashing through their own door.

While Trump today finally found the words to say that those who commit violence and undermine democracy should not do it in his name and are not truly part of his movement, the truth is quite the opposite. I will happily applaud Trump for what are vital words he uttered today in such a clear fashion. It is one of the most decent things he has done in four years and may save lives that could have been lost in the next week. But, again, his behaviour for six years has clearly been at odds with the decency of his words today. And while calling at last for a peaceful transition, he still failed to acknowledge Joe Biden as President-elect. Let’s not forget for a second how abnormal and destructive so many of his choices have been.

But let’s also enjoy the fact that there has been this reckoning of sorts in the past week. The institutions have held and both the idea of America and country that has grown - for better or worse - from that idea, have proven to be bigger than one man. Even a bigly man such as Donald Trump.

I’ve never been one of those who said he would romp or even sneak a second term. I was wrong in 2016, but still felt confident in 2020 that enough Americans would choose another way. For many who agonised, this past week has been a useful confirmation. In an odd way it may even create some common ground for a majority of Americans to unite on. Which is why I’m comfortable with the second impeachment.

Part of me initially thought it was just another divisive partisan play - and in some ways it certainly is. But a majority of Americans see the mob violence as a step too far - it’s something they can see and understand in a way that they don’t with “obstruction of justice” and “emoluments”. Finding a reason for a broader coalition of voters to want an end to Trumpism could be just the thing the US needs.

It could pull people together now and make a comeback much less likely. It seems unlikely to divide the country even further.

Ultimately, though, this second impeachment may simply be a hat hip to history, so like many of the other political moves this week. With a week to go of his lack-duck presidency, it does nothing much to stop Trump’s damage to the office. That is already done. But what the second impeachment does is signal to history just how awful this term was. How stand-out terrible Trump was as president.

Most of the candidates who compete for the title of worst president, do so because they helped drive the US towards the Civil War or mangled the opportunities for justice that came after. Franklin Pierce, Andrew Johnson and James Buchanan often compete for bottom spot in the wider President’s Club. And let’s be honest, over time Trump’s misdemeanours pay pale in comparison to those involved in the death of 620,000 Americans.

The great irony is that just how poorly history judges Trump may well come down to the performance of his successor, Joe Biden. Biden is also likely to be a one-term president. His age means he has signalled a second term is unlikely. Trump could be the biggest loser if Biden fails to repair Trump’s damage to US democracy. If America cracks along the pressure points of recent years, much blame will lie with the outgoing president. If Biden can bring people together, Trump’s record will be more insignificant and nasty than historically awful. So the pressure now falls heavily on Joe Biden to be healer in chief of a very troubled country.