Yesterday, the GOP-fever dreams of impeaching President Joe Biden devolved into the debacle many saw coming. When the humorous taunts of Rep. Jared Moskowitz, whose level of frustration reached an impassioned pitch, he implored his Republican colleagues to do it, “I DARE YOU!” Rep. Moskowitz (D-FL) gave a virtual finger to a sham hearing reverberating throughout the chamber and America. Without the suggestion of a phone call attempting to extort the President of Ukraine or another call to the Georgia Secretary of State to manufacture votes or inciting riotous followers to attack the Capitol on January 6, the GOP-led committee instead relied on unverified innuendo.
Admittedly, the son of the President, Hunter Biden, has not been a bastion of morality. Having fallen under the spell of a plague that affects many American families [drug addiction], the younger Biden bought a gun illegally, paid his taxes late, impregnated a woman, and probably tossed his daddy’s name around when engaging in business. Unfortunately, the GOP has decided that the crime for Joe Biden is unconditionally loving his son. The Republicans have derided the President for being seen with his son in the White House and daring to cavort with his son at social functions. Joe Biden’s support as a father should be praiseworthy, but it has become fodder for unverified accusations of wrongdoing. Repeated phone calls checking on his son’s well-being, laced with concern and pleasantries as testified to by Hunter Biden’s business partner[Devon Archer], are believed by GOP detractors as coded or clandestine complicity in bribery and influence peddling.
Never would I condone the use of family names in politics to further financial gain or solidify power; my beef is not with the condemnation of Hunter Biden’s personal behavior or the anger they have for Hunter Biden allegedly using his father’s positions in government to further his aspirations; it is the selected persecution of the current President for retribution. The committee chairman, James Comer (R-KY), has repeatedly dismissed requests to investigate the outlandish payments made to Jared Kushner and the business dealings of his daughter, Ivanka, who served as an adviser to the President during his administration.
Impeachment as a retaliatory tool seems instinctual for the GOP
I am one who still believes the impeachment of former President Bill Clinton over his private peccadillos was to even the score—so to speak, for the resignation of Richard Nixon. While military families, border patrol agents, and thousands of American workers prepare to have their bills unpaid because of a government shutdown instigated by the GOP, the country was subjected to a performative MAGA show. The government dysfunction since the Republicans took control of the House of Representatives cannot be hidden behind phraseology like ‘democracy is messy.’ Yes, it can be messy, but it can be functional.
Among all the ‘speechifying’ instead of questions by the GOP to its own witnesses who embarrassed the committee’s GOP contingent by openly stating there was no evidence to warrant an impeachment came some voices of reason from the Democrats. Most pointedly were the words of Rep. Jasmine Crockett (D-TX), who summed it up much better than I ever could:
Vote Against Guns