Kevin McCarthy is still running scared from the Republican base
Kevin McCarthy is still running scared from the Republican base
Impeachment!
It’s official: House Republicans — led by Speaker Kevin McCarthy — announced Tuesday morning that they would open a formal impeachment inquiry into the conduct of President Joe Biden and his son, Hunter.
“House Republicans have uncovered serious and credible allegations into President Biden’s conduct,” said McCarthy. “Taken together these allegations paint a picture of a culture of corruption.”
You might be tempted to think that this investigation is about getting to the bottom of what Hunter and Joe Biden did while the latter was vice president of the United States.
You would be wrong. This is not that. What it it? Simply the latest sign that McCarthy is willing to do whatever it takes to keep his party’s base — in and out of Congress — happy, and, in so doing, retain the speakership.
Start here: What are the “serious and credible allegations” that McCarthy is, ostensibly, basing his decision to launch an impeachment probe?
As far as I can tell, they seem to be rely heavily on the testimony of Devon Archer, a former business partner of Hunter Biden.
Archer testified that on around 20 occasions around over a 10 year period, Joe Biden got on the phone with business associates of Hunter’s. But, Archer also testified that Joe Biden never did anything more than exchange pleasantries on the call. He never discussed any business and often was seemingly unaware of who he was speaking with.
Admittedly, that’s not a great look! It seems to be that Hunter Biden was playing up his last name — and his ability to get his dad on the phone — to bring in business. Again, not great! But, criminal? Indicative of a “culture of corruption”? I think not.
Other allegations — including an alleged multi-million dollar bribe — have not been born out under closer inspection.
Don’t believe me. Take McCarthy’s actions as proof that he knows how shaky the ground he is on really is.
Less than two weeks ago, McCarthy indicated that the only way an impeachment inquiry would be launched would be via a vote on the House floor. On Tuesday, he simply declared that the probe now existed, and informed sources suggested there would be no House vote.
Which is probably because McCarthy knows he would lose such a vote.
House Speaker Kevin McCarthy faces unease within his ranks about impeaching President Joe Biden, with some politically vulnerable and centrist Republicans indicating they don’t believe there is enough evidence to take such a drastic step.
Those Republicans are also conflicted about whether to launch a formal inquiry, typically the first step before impeachment proceedings, and their anxieties highlight the practical and political dilemmas that McCarthy, R-Calif., and GOP leaders will have to navigate.
Said Colorado Rep. Ken Buck, one of the most high profile Republican skeptics of impeachment: “The time for impeachment is the time when there’s evidence linking President Biden — if there’s evidence linking President Biden — to a high crime or misdemeanor. That doesn’t exist right now.”
So, McCarthy is not doing this because a) the evidence uncovered to date merits it or b) the GOP conference is unanimously supportive of it.
Why he is doing it is plain to anyone who has followed the evolution of the Republican party over the last decade: He’s terrified of the party base and its representatives in Congress.
Foremost among them is Georgia Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene, who has been advocating for Biden’s impeachment almost since the day she took office.
“This is what leadership looks like and it’s the right thing to do,” Greene said in the aftermath of McCarthy’s announcement. “The American people deserve to know the truth and it’s our duty to uproot corruption wherever this investigation may lead.”
The political reality you should never forget is that McCarthy was elected Speaker after 15 ballots. He almost didn’t make it — thanks to opposition to his speakership from the most conservative elements of the party. (That did NOT include Greene, who made the strategic decision earlier this year to align herself with McCarthy and his bid for Speaker.)
It is, um, not a coincidence that McCarthy’s decision on impeachment came just hours before Florida Rep. Matt Gaetz was set to go to the House floor to make a strident case against his speakership.
Gaetz has been perhaps the loudest voice calling for the opening of an impeachment inquiry against Biden. He has been threatening a motion to vacate — aimed at removing McCarthy as Speaker — if the leader didn’t move on impeachment.
“That means forcing votes on impeachment,” Gaetz told a conservative radio host recently. “And if Speaker McCarthy stands in our way, he may not have the job long.”
Never one to avoid tooting his own horn, Gaetz took a victory lap on the news of the McCarthy impeachment announcement.
“When @SpeakerMcCarthy makes his announcement in moments, remember that as I pushed him for weeks,” tweeted Gaetz.
Which is how this whole situation should be read. McCarthy is desperate to keep his tenuous hold on the speakership. And he will do absolutely anything in pursuit of that goal. It doesn’t matter if there’s any evidence of Biden’s wrongdoing (there isn’t — at least not yet).
It also doesn’t matter that Senate Republicans are deeply skeptical about impeachment. “I don’t know what it’s based on,” West Virginia Sen. Shelley Moore Capito said Tuesday. “I have no idea what they’re talking about. I don’t want to see impeachment being used as an everyday instrument. I don’t think that’s what it’s intended for.”
This is SOLELY about McCarthy’s personal politics. He knows that it’s good politics for him — and maybe the only political choice he can make — to launch an impeachment investigation. And so he does — damn the torpedos!
Of course, if you take a step back, it is decidedly a bad thing to use impeachment (or at least the specter of impeachment) of a president as a tool to shore up your own political outlook. Down that road lies nothing good for democracy.
But McCarthy isn’t looking through that lens. He has the speakership — and he wants to keep it through any means necessary.
Congress is being controlled by the worst of the worst. They have no morals, only a craving for personal power. They don't care about the fact that a government shut down is looming. They don't care about the American people.
Speaker-in-name-only McCarthy is ensuring not only that Biden gets re-elected, but that that House flips back to the Democrats. It's really incredible how tone deaf Republicans have become to anyone outside their bubble (i.e., the majority).