The House GOP majority is considering authorizing a baseless impeachment inquiry into President Biden this week. This isn't a credible effort, and it's dangerous for America.
On its face, conducting an impeachment with no evidence of wrongdoing seems absurd, and it's being met with understandable derision among D.C. insiders, with Dana Milbank recently comparing the leaders of the effort, Rep. Jim Jordan (R-Ohio), Rep. Jason Smith (R-Mo.) and Rep. James Comer (R-Ky.) to the Three Stooges.
House Republicans have made their intentions clear: They are not going to focus on the things Americans care about. Their sole focus is to distract from numerous investigations of Donald Trump and their complicity in siding with him in his attempt to overturn a free and fair election. It was true under the leadership of Rep. McCarthy, and it remains true under the leadership of Rep. Mike Johnson.
But this isn't just the "same clown car with a different driver," as Rep. Kelly Armstrong (R-N.D.) told The Hill. While it's easy to make fun of House Republicans fumbling around in disarray, it's actually dangerous to laugh off what is really happening.
This impeachment vote on the House floor is the next step in their efforts to bolster Trump's chance to skirt accountability for the several criminal charges against him. If Trump is reelected, he may actually succeed, since a Trump-appointed attorney general could simply drop any federal charges. The Republicans supporting this evidence-free impeachment aren't acting as lawmakers. They are the de facto Trump cheerleaders.
Don't take my word for it. USA Today quoted Rep. Rep. Troy Nehls (R-Texas) as saying the goal is to give Trump "a little bit of ammo to fire back" by saying Biden has also been impeached. FOX News correspondent Chad Pergram said the effort is also about posting a win for the MAGA Republican base."
It's easy to see why they so desperately need a win: On the lawmaking front, they've been failures. Recent polling shows that democracy is the top concern of single-issue voters. Another poll earlier this year put democracy second only to the economy as their top issue.
Yet instead of passing critical democracy reforms—such as the John Lewis Voting Rights Act and the Freedom to Vote Act—they are at the forefront of attempting to weaken it.
And right now, as we urgently need Congress to pass a budget with significant funding levels (and no poison pill policy additions), to keep the government functioning after the holidays, they are playing politics, focused on advancing Trump's election prospects.
By any measure, they are failing to legislate to make improvements on issues regular Americans care about: the economy, drug pricing, the environment, and more, and so it is crystal clear that House Republicans have failed to serve their constituents. They are so laser-focused on protecting Trump and hiding their own complicity, they are chipping away at rule of law and the foundations of our Constitution.
As we approach January 2024, it will have been three years since Trump and his allies tried to stop Biden from becoming the president. Many of those same people are now serving in the House of Representatives. Their refusal to carry out their duty to the Constitution, and the people they represent, remains breathtaking—and dangerous.
Lisa Gilbert is executive vice president of Public Citizen.
The views expressed in this article are the writer's own.
Uncommon Knowledge
Newsweek is committed to challenging conventional wisdom and finding connections in the search for common ground.
Newsweek is committed to challenging conventional wisdom and finding connections in the search for common ground.
