For an alternate viewpoint, see “Point: Biden Impeachment Inquiry Is a Shameless Attempt at Political Retribution.”
Our nation faced only two presidential impeachments during its first 222 years. Suddenly, in 2021, President Donald Trump was impeached for the second time, and now we’re facing a third impeachment in four short years. This flurry of impeachment activity requires us to ask: Is President Biden facing impeachment because he deserves it or for political revenge?
It’s both.
Yes, this impeachment “inquiry” (which comes with absolutely no new congressional power until Congress takes a vote) is genuine in the sense that it’s based on a sprawling foreign bribery scheme, which, if fully uncovered, would definitionally qualify as impeachable. The Constitution gives Congress the power of impeachment for “Treason, Bribery, or other high Crimes and Misdemeanors.”
We know the Biden family collected tens of millions of dollars from foreign entities, we know that President Biden participated in meetings with Hunter Biden and these foreign entities, we know that a Ukrainian company (Burisma) paid Hunter Biden handsomely and then-Vice President Biden pressured Ukraine to end an investigation into that company, and we know Hunter Biden said he was required to pay his father. Collecting bags of foreign cash in exchange for favorable treatment is highly concerning, and asking Congress and Americans to whistle past it seems to undervalue American interests.
But also, yes, this inquiry takes place under the shadow of a non-stop effort to undermine and destroy former president Trump. Following untrustworthy and partisan accusations of Russian collusion, the Department of Justice spent $32 million on an invasive investigation, only to realize there was no collusion and the initial investigation never should have started in the first place.
The Democrats impeached him once because of an undefined “abuse of power” offense, not in violation of any identifiable law. They impeached him a second time because of his January 6 speech — an action that even a dedicated and aggressive prosecutor has not charged as illegal. We’re all well familiar with the criminal and civil counts piling on the former president, not to mention anti-democratic challenges to keep him off the ballot entirely.
Sure, the impeachment of President Biden is a response to all of this. But that’s perfectly fine in my book. Why? Well, we must raise the bar for impeachment; the nation does not benefit from yearly exercises in investigations and picking sides. The best way to achieve this is likely not by Republicans unilaterally rising above the fray. That’s the equivalent of sensing a nuclear attack and bunkering down. That stops nothing. The way to prevent a nuclear attack in the first place is to make clear we’ll respond in kind.
Politics is ugly. But the way to beautify it is not to assume that angelic behavior will be reciprocated. Our nation was built on this notion: separation of powers between federal branches and between the states and federal governments would confront power with power, thus disarming the whole bunch from incurring on our individual rights.
I see the same need here. The Democrats have made their bed. They should be made to lie in it. And perhaps when each side fully realizes this, we can agree, together, that impeachments should be exceedingly rare.
