Misunderstanding Impeachment

Impeach: transitive verb

1 : to charge with a crime or misdemeanor.  specifically: to charge (a public official) before a competent tribunal with misconduct in office.

It is all well and good that Trump was impeached while he was president but to have a trial now that he is a private citizen is a tremendously bad idea.  The primary point of impeachment is to remove an official from office.  Trump is already out of office.  If the precedent is set that Congress may impeach & try former officials, what's to stop them from impeaching Mike Pence or George W Bush?  At this point, criminal courts are the appropriate venue.

Consider: the point of impeachment and Senate trial is to have a means whereby the Legislative branch can remove the Executive.  The executive is the chief law enforcement officer and is unlikely to prosecute himself.  Once out of office, the new executive could prosecute.  That is where we are.  To have a Democratic House impeach and a Democratic Senate try a former Republican president is hardly going to be a 'fair' trial.  The goal is to disqualify Trump from future office.  Hmm.

Last year, during Trump's first impeachment, it was said that he was trying to undermine a future rival for the presidency by twisting the arm of Ukraine.  It was an abuse of power.  On that very basis, how is this effort to disqualify a political opponent not also an abuse of power?  Again, if the evidence warrants charges, have a trial in a regular court with a jury and make the case.  That that route is not being pursued is telling.  This is about politics, not the rule of law.