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The original vote to authorize an impeachment inquiry against President Joe Biden was supposed to happen immediately Congress’ August break. In fact, on Sept. 1, then-House Speaker Kevin McCarthy told the public to expect such a vote, calling it something “the American people deserve.”
There was, however, a small problem standing in the way: On Sept. 12, GOP leaders came to the awkward realization that they didn’t yet have the vote to advance an impeachment inquiry. McCarthy had a choice: He could honor his stated principles, or he could abandon them.
The then-speaker, of course, chose the latter, and directed three far-right committee chairs to open an impeachment inquiry without a floor vote. In the months that followed, there was precisely one impeachment hearing — it was an embarrassing fiasco for Republicans — and the campaign to uncover presidential wrongdoing came up empty.
It was at that point that the party, now led by House Speaker Mike Johnson, was left with another choice: Find a new hobby or advance a baseless process despite the absence of evidence.
The party did not choose wisely: The House voted 221-212 to formally authorize an impeachment inquiry into Biden.
It wouldn’t have taken much to tip the scales the other way. In a divided House, if just a handful of House Republicans had acknowledged reality, broken with their party, and dismissed this partisan sham as unnecessary, the resolution would’ve lost.
It was against this backdrop that quite a few GOP members in recent weeks and months — Don Bacon of Nebraska, Dusty Johnson of South Dakota, Michael McCaul of Texas, Dave Joyce of Ohio, et al. — publicly conceded that their party simply hadn’t uncovered evidence that Biden did anything wrong.
And yet, the measure passed anyway.
As the dust settles on an exasperating debate, and members start eyeing trips to the airport, there’s no shortage of angles…
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