The dream of impeachment is alive in Congress. House Republicans have filed resolutions to impeach Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas, FBI Director Christopher A. Wray, Attorney General Merrick Garland, Vice President Harris and — of course — President Biden. House Speaker Kevin McCarthy (R-Calif.) hasn’t given his go-ahead to any of them, but he is toying with the idea.
Yet despite their obsession with impeachment, Republicans fundamentally misunderstand it. What makes impeachment unique is also what would make it such a disaster for them.
Appearing on Fox News recently, McCarthy said GOP allegations against the president are so serious they are “rising to the level of impeachment inquiry, which provides Congress the strongest power to get the rest of the knowledge and information needed.” That isn’t quite a promise to begin impeachment proceedings (McCarthy is likely only attempting to assuage his party’s right wing), but it does seem to suggest the only way to learn the full magnitude of Biden’s alleged malfeasance is to get the proceedings going.
Those not immersed in the Fox News Cinematic Universe might have little idea what sort of high crimes and misdemeanors the president or any of these other officials are supposed to have committed. Although the resolutions filed in the House to impeach Biden mostly claim his immigration policies constitute a dereliction of duty, the real action is in Republicans’ lurid yet unsubstantiated claim that the president has been bribed by foreign interests. It’s “one of the biggest crimes that I’ve ever studied, with respect to American history,” says Rep. James Comer (R-Ky.), chair of the House Oversight Committee.
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That might generate whoops of encouragement on the right, but anyone thinking those kinds of wild allegations would survive the impeachment process is mistaken.
That’s because “process” is the key word. Impeachment proceedings are complicated, slow and governed by strict rules. Although the first phase would be controlled by Republicans in the House, it is constructed to allow careful and lengthy consideration of charges, requiring substantiation with genuine evidence. Given the thinness of their allegations against Biden, that’s the last thing Republicans ought to seek.
The fact that impeachment generates so much attention might seem like a boon to Republicans looking to discredit Biden, but it would actually be their biggest problem. It’s one thing to throw out a bunch of outrageous accusations in a five-minute appearance on Fox; it’s quite another to insert them into an impeachment investigation under the glare of every news outlet and in a context where evidence will have to be provided and witnesses cross-examined.
Because it would be the most important news story in the country for an extended period, impeachment gives the public a rare opportunity to deliberate about the questions at hand — to watch the coverage, talk about it with people they know and come to conclusions without rushing.
Republicans should know how that process can backfire on them because they went through it 25 years ago. They were sure that when the public got a good, hard look at President Bill Clinton’s affair with Monica Lewinsky, people would turn on him in rage. Instead, the opposite happened: The public turned on Republicans for mounting the preposterous undertaking, Clinton’s approval ratings rose (even topping 70 percent in some polls at the end of 1998), and Democrats gained seats in that year’s midterm elections.
I suspect many Republicans are counting on what McCarthy suggested, even if he is reluctant to move forward: Once they get the ball rolling — form a committee, start subpoenaing evidence and interviewing witnesses — Biden’s wrongdoing will become clear. It’s the “fake it till you make it” approach that undid Theranos’s Elizabeth Holmes: Say with conviction that the vaporware you’re offering is real, and eventually it will become real.
The impeachment impulse is born of a festering frustration. Republicans managed to take control of the House and are holding hearings on their various bugaboos, yet Biden, to their great dismay, remains president. Every day, they watch him doing things with the power of his office, none of his legislative accomplishments have been undone, and Washington remains full of liberals walking around as if they own the place. It’s maddening. So they indulge the fantasy of showing everyone his crimes and kicking him out the door.
Of course, it would partly be revenge for former president Donald Trump’s two impeachments, which were for actual wrongdoing. Republicans have introduced resolutions to expunge both of them, to make it as though they never happened. Those have as much chance of success as any of the impeachments Republicans have proposed.
The dream of booting Biden (and much of his Cabinet) from office won’t die. Yet although the president’s opponents think it would enable them to show everyone how evil this administration supposedly is, the only ones exposed by impeachment would be Republicans themselves.
Yet despite their obsession with impeachment, Republicans fundamentally misunderstand it. What makes impeachment unique is also what would make it such a disaster for them.
Appearing on Fox News recently, McCarthy said GOP allegations against the president are so serious they are “rising to the level of impeachment inquiry, which provides Congress the strongest power to get the rest of the knowledge and information needed.” That isn’t quite a promise to begin impeachment proceedings (McCarthy is likely only attempting to assuage his party’s right wing), but it does seem to suggest the only way to learn the full magnitude of Biden’s alleged malfeasance is to get the proceedings going.
Those not immersed in the Fox News Cinematic Universe might have little idea what sort of high crimes and misdemeanors the president or any of these other officials are supposed to have committed. Although the resolutions filed in the House to impeach Biden mostly claim his immigration policies constitute a dereliction of duty, the real action is in Republicans’ lurid yet unsubstantiated claim that the president has been bribed by foreign interests. It’s “one of the biggest crimes that I’ve ever studied, with respect to American history,” says Rep. James Comer (R-Ky.), chair of the House Oversight Committee.
Press Enter to skip to end of carousel
That might generate whoops of encouragement on the right, but anyone thinking those kinds of wild allegations would survive the impeachment process is mistaken.
That’s because “process” is the key word. Impeachment proceedings are complicated, slow and governed by strict rules. Although the first phase would be controlled by Republicans in the House, it is constructed to allow careful and lengthy consideration of charges, requiring substantiation with genuine evidence. Given the thinness of their allegations against Biden, that’s the last thing Republicans ought to seek.
The fact that impeachment generates so much attention might seem like a boon to Republicans looking to discredit Biden, but it would actually be their biggest problem. It’s one thing to throw out a bunch of outrageous accusations in a five-minute appearance on Fox; it’s quite another to insert them into an impeachment investigation under the glare of every news outlet and in a context where evidence will have to be provided and witnesses cross-examined.
Because it would be the most important news story in the country for an extended period, impeachment gives the public a rare opportunity to deliberate about the questions at hand — to watch the coverage, talk about it with people they know and come to conclusions without rushing.
Republicans should know how that process can backfire on them because they went through it 25 years ago. They were sure that when the public got a good, hard look at President Bill Clinton’s affair with Monica Lewinsky, people would turn on him in rage. Instead, the opposite happened: The public turned on Republicans for mounting the preposterous undertaking, Clinton’s approval ratings rose (even topping 70 percent in some polls at the end of 1998), and Democrats gained seats in that year’s midterm elections.
I suspect many Republicans are counting on what McCarthy suggested, even if he is reluctant to move forward: Once they get the ball rolling — form a committee, start subpoenaing evidence and interviewing witnesses — Biden’s wrongdoing will become clear. It’s the “fake it till you make it” approach that undid Theranos’s Elizabeth Holmes: Say with conviction that the vaporware you’re offering is real, and eventually it will become real.
The impeachment impulse is born of a festering frustration. Republicans managed to take control of the House and are holding hearings on their various bugaboos, yet Biden, to their great dismay, remains president. Every day, they watch him doing things with the power of his office, none of his legislative accomplishments have been undone, and Washington remains full of liberals walking around as if they own the place. It’s maddening. So they indulge the fantasy of showing everyone his crimes and kicking him out the door.
Of course, it would partly be revenge for former president Donald Trump’s two impeachments, which were for actual wrongdoing. Republicans have introduced resolutions to expunge both of them, to make it as though they never happened. Those have as much chance of success as any of the impeachments Republicans have proposed.
The dream of booting Biden (and much of his Cabinet) from office won’t die. Yet although the president’s opponents think it would enable them to show everyone how evil this administration supposedly is, the only ones exposed by impeachment would be Republicans themselves.
