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.
https://www.breitbart.com/europe/2023/07/27/bankers-read-riot-act-as-uk-govt-looks-outlaw-political-debanking-in-farage-fallout/
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.
https://www.breitbart.com/tech/2023/07/28/wsj-facebook-demoted-video-of-tucker-carlson-by-50-at-the-demand-of-biden-white-house/
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?
https://www.breitbart.com/politics/2023/07/28/nolte-rfk-jr-says-biden-administration-denied-him-secret-service-protection/
