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It’s been more than a month since House Republicans made history by impeaching Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas. His GOP detractors couldn’t find any evidence of him committing high crimes, but they nevertheless made Mayorkas the first sitting cabinet secretary in American history to impeached.
And then, nothing happened. The idea that this was an urgent matter of great national importance was quickly contradicted by the fact that Republicans didn’t do anything with the articles of impeachment for weeks.
Finally, yesterday, GOP officials decided it was time to move the process forward. NBC News reported:
After a weeklong delay, the House of Representatives on Tuesday afternoon sent its articles of impeachment against Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas to the Senate. It kicks off what’s expected to be a very short trial in the upper chamber — one that could wrap up by week’s end.
The delivery of the impeachment articles was itself notable. The House Republican’s impeachment managers, chosen by GOP leaders, literally walked the documents from one end of Capitol Hill to the other — as is customary — in a display that’s supposed to convey a degree of gravity and solemnity.
But what the process actually showed was who, exactly, Republican leaders chose for ostensibly serious roles. The group of GOP impeachment managers included some of the party’s most right-wing extremists, including Reps. Marjorie Taylor Greene of Georgia, Clay Higgins of Louisiana, and Andy Biggs of Arizona.
These aren’t the kind of managers party officials would choose to make a credible case to the Senate; these are the kind of managers party officials would choose as part of a partisan, election-year stunt.
And that’s because this entire process is clearly a partisan, election-year stunt.
What’s especially striking about this is how little effort Republicans are investing in keeping up appearances. Reminded that they didn’t have any evidence against Mayorkas, the GOP said it didn’t care. Told that the party’s impeachment managers included many obviously unserious members, the GOP said it didn’t care.
When Democrats explained that the delay in sending the articles of impeachment to the Senate was part of a brazen public-relations strategy, the GOP said it didn’t care. And now that the matter has finally arrived at the upper chamber, where the Democratic majority intends to wrap this up quickly so that members can focus on real work, the GOP is once again saying it still doesn’t care. NBC News’ report added:
... Republicans, who are demanding a full Senate trial, are fighting to drag out the process in a bid to shine the spotlight on what they see as Mayorkas’ failure to curtail migrant crossings and secure the southern border.
It’s not that GOP senators believe an impeachment trial would serve any substantive purpose or increase the odds of the Senate voting to remove Mayorkas from office. Rather, Republicans are effectively admitting that they want to create a spectacle in the hopes that it might help advance their electoral plans.
When former Rep. Ken Buck announced last month that he was resigning from Congress, the Colorado Republican made little effort to hide his disgust with the state of the institution. In fact, he pointed to one specific abuse — executed by his own party — that he found especially indefensible.
“We’ve taken impeachment, and we’ve made it a social media issue as opposed to a constitutional concept,” Buck declared.
GOP officials are barely even trying to prove him wrong. Republicans might as well be wearing t-shirts that read, “Yep, we’re engaged in a partisan, election-year stunt.”
NBC News’ report added, “It’s expected that Senate Democrats, who control the chamber, will band together and vote to dismiss or table the issue, then move on to other business, including the chamber’s need to renew a critical spy tool before it expires Friday. None of the Senate’s 51 Democrats have said they support the Mayorkas impeachment, and even a handful of GOP senators have said the impeachment is meritless.”
Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer will swear in senators as jurors in five hours. Watch this space.
This post updates our related earlier coverage.