Friends, there's a lot of scuttlebutt these days about impeaching Joe Biden. It's a very important question that the House GOP will need to weigh carefully. I would say we're not "there yet", in terms of the evidence, but, politically, there are some distinct upsides to a potential impeachment inquiry. You'll find all my Machiavellian thoughts in my latest article:
Impeach Joe Biden – But Not For the Reasons You Might Think
A fierce debate, or at least a steady murmur, is building on the Republican side about whether it would be a good idea to impeach Joe Biden. There are many strong arguments on both sides of this question, but ultimately it must be borne in mind that impeachment is an essentially political process, and an essentially political question, and thus whether the GOP caucus in the House crosses the Rubicon on impeachment should be based on a practical assessment of whether it is likely to do Republicans – and the country – any good.
We should make one thing clear: an impeachment inquiry into President Biden, leading ultimately to a vote in the House to impeach him, is extremely unlikely to lead to his removal from office. Two-thirds of Senators would have to vote to convict him of whatever offenses the House “indicts” him for, presumably bribery, abuse of power, or something closely related. Democratic Senators showed absolutely no appetite to convict Bill Clinton all the way back in 1999, even though they almost unanimously conceded that he was technically guilty of committing the relevant crimes. They simply didn't care and were inclined to dismiss the charges as politically motivated. In this day and age, by contrast, levels of partisanship and ideological acrimony are much higher, and thus it is highly improbable that a significant number of Democratic Senators would cross the aisle to betray a sitting Democratic president. It is conceivable that, if they viewed such a president as fatally compromised, they would conspire to force him to resign, but impeachment and removal by constitutional means is a virtual impossibility.
Ergo, as Republicans and conservatives, we must ask ourselves: why begin the process of impeachment against Joe Biden when it is almost certainly doomed to fail? Would it “feel” good to drag Biden through the mud? Yes. Would it rally the Republican base, at least as long as the impeachment inquiry and/or the Senate trial lasted? Probably. Would it insulate some House Republicans from the danger that they would be “primaried” by a more vehemently anti-Biden candidate to their right? Perhaps. Would it, however, fundamentally alter the political realities in America, or lastingly damage (or improve) Joe Biden's standing with the public? Based on Bill Clinton's and Donald Trump's experiences with impeachment, that seems highly dubious.
One could argue that the House is morally and constitutionally obligated to impeach Joe Biden because he has engaged in nefarious, self-interested activities that are, in fact, impeachable. Justice demands, therefore, that he face scrutiny, and ideally punishment, for his infractions. This argument is weak, however, because Biden always faces scrutiny, at least from the conservative press, and the House, by itself, is incapable of enforcing any kind of punishment against the President of the United States that would be meaningful. It can rake him over the coals, but, as Adam Schiff's recent censure demonstrated, this is a gambit that is just as likely to help its target politically as hurt him. So, again, what would be the point?
I humbly submit that there is a practical purpose for going forward with the impeachment of Joe Biden, and one which could entirely and easily justify the endeavor, from the perspective of Republicans, conservatives, and patriots. Impeachment proceedings against Joe Biden, a vote to impeach him in the House, and a trial in the Senate, would be lastingly important only in one sense: they would affect public opinion. They would not, in all likelihood, affect the views of Republicans or even independents about Joe Biden. According to a Rasmussen poll, most Americans in both groups already believe it is “at least somewhat likely” that Biden has committed “high crimes and misdemeanors” since taking office, and many of them support, not surprisingly, a (futile) impeachment inquiry against him. Their anti-Biden views would be vindicated, perhaps, by an impeachment inquiry, but they would not be changed.
On the contrary, the people who would truly be galvanized by such an impeachment effort are Democrats. As of May, 71% of Democrats opposed a Biden impeachment inquiry. If President Biden was subjected to the full scrutiny of the House, and a trial in the Senate, it is extremely likely that the mainstream media, and most Democrats, would rally to his defense. Much as Donald Trump has prospered politically recently, not despite, but because of, the innumerable felony charges that left-wing prosecutors are laying against him, Biden too would benefit, especially in the short term, from the political side-effects of a Republican campaign to remove him from office. Right now, Democrats are just beginning to ask questions about Biden's political viability, and to explore seriously the option of replacing him as the Democratic Party standard-bearer. Impeaching him is the best way to put wind in his sails, at least among Democrats, to quiet any and all doubts about him on the Democratic side, and to ensure that he will be, regardless of his many defects, the Democratic candidate for president in 2024.
Republicans should ask themselves, therefore, before they commit to pursuing the impeachment of Joe Biden, whether they want to help him become the Democratic nominee and ensure he runs for reelection. Since there is a very strong argument to be made that he's a weak candidate – and could be made even weaker if more evidence can be amassed that he engaged in a bribery scheme with his family members – then the only reasonable conclusion that can be reached is that, yes, Republicans should impeach Joe Biden, both because he's deserving of it, and because it will forestall any possibility that an internal Democratic Party coup will remove him from the equation before 2024.
Put another way, an impeachment inquiry into Joe Biden would be, in effect, the biggest and most decisive contribution that we Republicans could possibly make to the Biden-Harris ticket – and, if we're to be honest, on its success may hinge our own. So, to the “hard-right” GOP House members currently clamoring for Joe Biden's impeachment, I say: bring it on!
Dr. Nicholas L. Waddy is an Associate Professor of History at SUNY Alfred and blogs at www.waddyisright.com. He appears on the Newsmaker Show on WLEA 1480/106.9.
And here it is at World Net Daily:
https://www.wnd.com/2023/07/impeach-joe-biden-not-reasons-think/
***
In other news, I don't know if you've been following the scandal in the U.K. surrounding the "debanking" of Nigel Farage, but it's a very big story. To make a long story somewhat shorter, banking heads are starting to roll over the persecution of Farage, and the U.K. looks like it might criminalize politicized debanking. Interesting! You can bet your bottom dollar that these issues will become much more pressing in the U.S. as well.
We're learning more about how collaboration between the Biden White House and Big Tech works when it comes to censorship -- and it's not a pretty picture.
Finally, everyone knows that the Biden Administration and establishment Democrats hate hate hate RFK, Jr. What we didn't know is that they are inclined to withhold Secret Service protection from him, potentially putting him in grave danger. Now that's petty!!! Or is it more calculated than petty?
Dr. Waddy from Jack: Wow, your conclusion that Biden should be impeached is very well conceived and argued. You've convinced me and I'll be urging Congressman Langworthy to go for it. An interesting historical fact: no impeached President has ever been reelected (ok Slick Willy couldn't run anyway but perhaps, just maybe, the country might have had it's fill of him by 2000). Can't be denied out of hand.
ReplyDeleteDr. Waddy from Jack: Mother McCree! This hugely consequential prolix evolution from now until the ultimate national decision next Nov., grows more bizarre by the moment. RFK Jr has become a catalyst for a chaotic (in the Greek mythological sense) brew of unprecedented developments which is probably very far from clarification.If Biden is not the nominee, this already incredible hurly burly might carry this eccentric man a long way. Might he team up with Joe Manchin? Is mortal combat between the antiamerican left and a rump of atavistic common sense dems, within their shamefully degraded party,possible? The dem party is probably finished as a loyal, democratic entity as they embrace the lunatic left and obsequiously provide it the disingenuous appearance of an American party.But good people like Manchin still stay with it. I bet they have plausible reasons but then, why even make the effort?It will take a broad united front to defeat incipient totalitarianism and it's time to come in from the cold and stand together against it, NOW! The vindictive antipathy shown by the apparently dominant dem crazies to heretic RFK Jr, yet again confirms how they would rule. I mean, look at all the keen exemplars they extol: "Che" , Mao, AOC. . .
ReplyDeleteThank you, Jack! It's not a conclusion I arrive at lightly... The Dems will claim, naturally, that a GOP impeachment of Biden will be something that centrist voters will never forgive. Poppycock! Two weeks after it happens they won't even remember it took place.
ReplyDeleteYou say no impeached president has ever been reelected. Well, we're in a whole new era in which presidential impeachments are practically a yearly occurrence. Why, we don't even need to consider EVIDENCE to impeach a president... It's a far more casual, inconsequential gesture now than ever before.
Hmm. Could some kind of united front be formed by the Manchins, the RFK, Juniors, and the Sinemas of this world? Heck, why not include Cornel West in this motley crew... I rather doubt it will come to pass, but the simple truth is that it would take only ONE of these upstarts to drive a stake through Biden's barely-beating heart in 2024. I, personally, couldn't care less which one of them it turns out to be, either, just as long as Biden goes down in flames.
Dr. Waddy from Jack: West and Manchin; now that would be a kick.Now let's get serious :!Beto and Stacy what's her name from Georgia. I know; an All Squad ticket! "Chaos is come again"; Othello and Iago for Doge of Venice (I think it was an elected office).
ReplyDeleteDr. Waddy from Jack: This RFK Jr. phenomenom may presage a groovy cultural "happening". How many other descendents of '60s players, "legacies" if you will, could be thus inspired to reprise that halcyon era?Perhaps a "legacy" can inherit the votes garnered by their scions?Right on, all along the watchtower, all that . . . .!
ReplyDeleteDr. Waddy from Jack: Hooray for the Brits. They've still got the stuff! But I would expect a temporarily chastened left would recover. Look at the open contempt they aggressively enact for the American "Protection of Lawful Commerce in Firearms Act". If their attempted political usurpation of the banking institution is rebuffed they will select some other vital aspect of our economy, our legal system or our polity for their blithe prostitution. How about politically correct "redistribution" of health care or 60 South Africa styled isolation and siege of insolently American states by geographically only American counterparts?The only way to permanently disarm the antiamerican left is to drive it to Soviet style demise, of its own dead weight.
ReplyDeleteJack, it almost doesn't matter what the names of the third party candidates are, just as long as they make it on the ballot. With Biden and Trump as the major party candidates, if they are the candidates, a substantial number of voters would grasp at any straw that was handy -- and that, in itself, would be a game-changer.
ReplyDeleteI agree: the Left will not readily surrender financial leverage over its enemies. Viewpoint discrimination may be banned, but you can bet they'll be looking for other metrics to justify debanking, and worse. Spreading "misinformation", perhaps?
Dr. Waddy from Jack: Yeah, you're right. The possible decisive importance of a third candidate lends a distinct element of drama to such aspirants.
ReplyDelete