Should Biden Be Impeached?

Peter Zeihan, one of my favorite podcasters, recently roasted Sen. Tommy Tuberville (R-AL), who sits on the Senate Armed Services Committee, for holding up military promotions over his objections to a new military policy related to abortion care. Tuberville probably deserves the criticism he’s facing for that stubborn stance. However, Tuberville’s response to questions about Biden impeachment are more logical. As reported on several news outlets, he said that the House “must not waste time” and must “deliver an ironclad case.”

Richard Nixon resigned as President in 1974 just before he was likely to be impeached by the House and ultimately convicted by the Senate. His initial crime was relatively minor but mistakes in the attempted cover-up led to his ultimate undoing. Even though he lost the support of his party’s leaders, some Republicans continued to stew over the ordeal until they got their opportunity for revenge some 20 years later. Bill Clinton had what was essentially a marital infidelity issue turn into an impeachment issue due to his own mishandling and attempted cover-up. While the TV and newspaper coverage of the Nixon impeachment hearings captivated the nation, the Clinton hearings were exponentially more paralyzing due to the salaciousness of the subject matter and the relatively new 24-hour news channels desperate to attract viewers, especially in primetime.

Fox News hit the scene in 1996, just over a year before the Monica Lewinski affair made headlines. The battle lines were quickly drawn. Fox News became the media arm of the Republican party and platform for Republican politicians desiring to get free airtime by their willingness to publicly express their outrage over the behavior of the President. Likewise, CNN became the media arm of the Clinton administration and Democrat attack dogs lined up for a chance to defend the President and rail against Republicans. Ratings on both networks skyrocketed and primetime anchors along with their favorite guest commentators became celebrities.

The Irish refer to the period from the late 60s through the mid 90s when Northern Ireland experienced violent conflict between religio-political sects as The Troubles. Each act of violence was justified as revenge for some previous act of violence resulting in a seemingly endless loop of revenge violence. The Clinton hearings followed by the Clarence Thomas hearings might have been the beginnings of the current American version of The Troubles, and this cycle of impeachment is one of its symptoms.

The gap from the first impeachment, of Andrew Johnson in 1868, and the Richard Nixon Watergate scandal was over 100 years. Nixon to Clinton was 20 years, as was Clinton to Trump 1. There was talk of impeachment during both Bush and Obama years, but the movements couldn’t gain traction. The gap from Trump 2 to the pending Biden hearings has been only 3 years. There have been other impeachment talks of late, including Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas, New Mexico Gov. Michelle Lujan Grisham, Supreme Court Justices Clarence Thomas and Samuel Alito, and others. Impeachment seems to have evolved into the preferred method for changing election outcomes, and/or disrupting the political agenda of the executive branch for both parties.

If you are a partisan, you can probably give me multiple reasons why the behavior of the other guy was so much worse than your guy and his impeachment was justified while the impeachment of your guy was just a political witch-hunt. But you’re just proving my point. Both sides can justify their actions and condemn the other party’s actions with equal vigor, with equal legal precedents, and with somewhat logical arguments.

So what about Biden? Is impeachment the proper course? I would argue, “no.” Does this mean that I think that the claims about Biden family corruption are bogus or political mud-slinging? Absolutely not. The evidence that the Biden family leveraged its political status for financial gain by selling influence internationally is pretty convincing. And a bought politician is a compromised politician. That’s what the entire Steele Dossier’/Russian Collusion hoax was designed to do – paint Trump as a compromised candidate. Had it worked and Hillary Clinton become our 45th President, we not doubt would have been stuck in hearings about corruption related to the Clinton Foundation, as I suspect the Clintons were doing the same thing. But the electorate chose Trump in 2016 and chose to fire him in 2020.

To put this in context: Was the Nixon impeachment process the proper course? Probably not. It’s unfortunate for Nixon that partisan spin machines were not as well developed in 1974. If so, they may have saved him from his fate as they did Clinton and Trump. Was the Clinton impeachment the proper course? Absolutely not. Does it mean he did nothing wrong – absolutely not. The nation elected Bush in 2000, effectively firing Clinton’s successor. Were the two Trump impeachments the proper course? Absolutely not. Does that mean he did no wrong – of course not. He did the things he was accused of and the nation fired him in 2020. Each of these impeachment actions were initiated and exaggerated by the opposition party as a way to attempt to remove a political rival from office. It’s the political version of the “gotcha” game. While it would have been perfectly appropriate for congress to have taken a vote to censure the president in each of those cases, each of those presidents was elected by the people and we get the chance to revisit those decisions every four years. It’s dumb for us to waste so much energy (and money) attempting to build a case for impeachment when a vote to fire the bum is always just around the corner.

There is an election coming in 2024. Both Fox and CNN will declare it’s the most important election in our generation, just as they have done every election since they’ve been on the air. The people will decide if they want to re-elect what certainly appears to be a corrupt and potentially compromised leader. Since the Democrats aren’t allowing a primary challenge, poor Dems aren’t able to fire Biden themselves. Even so, Americans might decide they’d rather have a corrupt and compromised Biden than return to the inevitable chaos of a second Trump administration. Legal efforts to keep Trump off the ballot only seem to be strengthening his lead in the Republican race. In spite of his past behaviors and the presence of a strong group of challengers who poll better nationally than he does, Republicans seem unwilling to fire Trump.

No matter whether Biden or Trump (or someone else) is elected in 2024, we will get the President we deserve. And that President should be allowed to serve out their term as president without the hassle of impeachment hearings unless a “true” high crime occurs. In my opinion, that’s a much higher bar than we’ve seen in any of the preceding impeachment cases. The impeachment process takes so long and distracts the government and the nation such that the cost of the political win for the opposition party is greater than the benefit. Even if convicted, the sitting Vice President of the same party steps in and the same platform of policies stays in place. And it only sets the stage for another impeachment down the road.

The only winners are Fox News and CNN.