The House should impeach the entire Biden administration | Washington Examiner
By: Jeremiah Poff
S E E D E D C O N T E N T
When House Democrats, led by Rep. Nancy Pelosi (D-CA), impeached then-President Donald Trump in 2019, the procedure was a spectacle of feigned seriousness for one of the most blatantly partisan acts in U.S. history.
The two impeachment counts, abuse of power and obstruction of Congress, were passed on a party-line vote and established a new standard that every president can be easily impeached if the opposing party controls the House of Representatives.
On Tuesday, the Republican-controlled House voted along party lines to impeach Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas, the first impeachment of a Cabinet secretary since 1876. And while three Republicans voted against it, claiming there was no basis for the impeachment, the vote was an act of pure political power that the Republicans should extend to the rest of the administration.
In Federalist Paper 65, Alexander Hamilton, who helped draft the Constitution, explains that impeaching an officer of the United States is fundamentally a political action.
"The subjects of its jurisdiction are those offenses which proceed from the misconduct of public men, or, in other words, from the abuse or violation of some public trust," Hamilton wrote. "They are of a nature which may with peculiar propriety be denominated POLITICAL, as they relate chiefly to injuries done immediately to the society itself. The prosecution of them, for this reason, will seldom fail to agitate the passions of the whole community, and to divide it into parties more or less friendly or inimical to the accused. In many cases it will connect itself with the pre-existing factions, and will enlist all their animosities, partialities, influence, and interest on one side or on the other; and in such cases there will always be the greatest danger that the decision will be regulated more by the comparative strength of parties, than by the real demonstrations of innocence or guilt."
In other words, the impeachment of an officer or president will be the result of the factionalism that is the main feature of party politics, and therefore, impeachment is ultimately subject to how much power each party involved has.
That brings me to this point: The impeachment of Mayorkas should be the first and not the last impeachment of a Biden administration official. It is an administration replete with lawless officials who have abused their authority to the detriment of the people of the United States.
President Joe Biden should be at the very top of the list for impeachment, and while there is an impeachment inquiry into the president, it should be expedited. The recent special counsel report has made clear that Biden is not fit to serve as president, given his diminished mental acuity, and the president's long history of corruption provides plenty of fodder for impeachment charges.
Attorney General Merrick Garland has overseen the systemic persecution of the Biden administration's political opponents, beginning with former President Donald Trump, who is facing multiple criminal indictments designed to influence the 2024 presidential election. Additionally, the Department of Justice, under Garland's watch, has launched a vindictive and malicious campaign to imprison the pro-life movement by jailing activists for merely singing songs and praying outside of abortion clinics.
Secretary of Defense Lloyd Austin's impeachment case begins with his dereliction of duty when he failed to inform the White House when he was incapacitated by a medical procedure. Under Austin's watch, the Pentagon has also blatantly disregarded the Hyde Amendment and is facilitating the procurement of abortions for servicewomen using taxpayer funds.
And plenty of impeachment cases can easily be formulated against Secretary of Education Miguel Cardona, Secretary of Transportation Pete Buttigieg, and others in the administration.
With a Democratic-controlled Senate, these impeachments will not be successful in removing these officials from power, but that is not the point. As Democrats set the standard in 2019, impeachment is now an exercise of partisan political power, and it should be treated as such.
The media and the Democratic Party have successfully demagogued to the public the idea that impeachment of a president or a Cabinet official is a rare and serious matter when it is merely an exercise of political power.
By impeaching the entirety of the Biden administration, Republicans can finish what the Democrats started and fully break the illusion that impeachment is some sacrosanct process that is above political considerations.
Furthermore, it would also have the strategic effect of jamming the schedule of the Democratic-controlled Senate. If the upper chamber were forced to contend with numerous impeachment trials, it would have less time to vote on judicial nominations and billions of dollars in foreign aid.
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A majority of senators voted to convict former President Donald Trump on an impeachment charge of inciting an insurrection at the U.S. Capitol.
But the Democrats' side needed 17 Republicans to join them in order to reach the two-thirds threshold needed to convict.
Seven GOP senators voted with Democrats — the most bipartisan impeachment vote in U.S. history —
Senator: Bill Cassidy, Louisiana
Vote explanation: Cassidy posted a video to Twitter after the trial, saying: "Our Constitution and our country is more important than any one person. I voted to convict President Trump because he is guilty."
On ABC on Sunday Cassidy added that "it was clear that [Trump] wished that lawmakers be intimidated" while they counted electoral votes, and that Trump didn't act quickly to dissuade the violent mob.
Who gives a fuck what one TDS driven Establishment Senator said?
Pelosi and Democrats broke all House rules with both impeachments; and the Jan 6th committee.
I know precedence and rules don't mean shit to the Democrats/left. Just like the rule of law and Constitution don't.
Do give the specifics. Which rules? In what ways were they broken?
That's an incredibly stupid idea so, of course, the republicans will be all over it.
That would put them in great company with Democrats over the last 7 years and counting.
This is, easily, the most idiotic article that has shown up on Newstalkers this week.
I thought you nailed that with your NATO article.