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For months, as House Republicans moved forward with their impeachment crusade against Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas, many assumed that cooler heads would eventually prevail. Sure, the GOP conference has taken a radical turn, but the party wouldn’t actually impeach a sitting Cabinet secretary without evidence of high crimes, right?
As the dust settles on this rather dramatic abuse of congressional power, there are plenty of questions worth keeping in mind as the process advances.
Will there be an impeachment trial? Several far-right senators want one, but they shouldn’t get their hopes up. There’s a general understanding in the upper chamber — among members of both parties — that the case against Mayorkas is ridiculous and unworthy of the institution’s time. Politico had a good report on this early last week, noting that the Senate’s Democratic majority has already talked behind the scenes “about the best way to kill this as fast as they can.”
No one should be surprised if there’s a vote to simply dismiss the House’s charges altogether. If not, it’s also possible that the matter would be referred to committee, where the resolution would likely wither on the vine.
Will House GOP leaders appoint impeachment managers? Of course they will. In fact, ahead of last week’s failed vote, the Republican leadership eyed a variety of right-wing members for the task, including Reps. Marjorie Taylor Greene of Georgia, Andy Biggs of Arizona, and Clay Higgins of Louisiana. The list underscored the fundamentally unserious way in which GOP officials have approached the issue.
Whatever happened to the Republicans’ so-called “moderate” wing? During a related effort in November, eight GOP members balked at the idea of impeaching Mayorkas. In the final vote, that total was down to three. As we recently discussed, the next time you see someone reference the House Republicans’ “moderate” wing, remember that all the members of this wing can fit comfortably in a midsized sedan — with room to spare.
What kind of precedent has the GOP set? We’ve apparently reached the point in American politics in which members of Congress no longer need evidence of high crimes to impeach officials they don’t like. This seems ... problematic.
Who’s next? As far as I’m concerned, this is the question that matters most. If the campaign against Mayorkas had collapsed, House Republicans would likely have had little choice but to move on from their impeachment crusade. They might’ve even tried to pass a bill or two, which would’ve been a pleasant change of pace.
But instead, they succeeded — emboldening GOP members who are a little too fond of using impeachment as a partisan toy. As regular readers know, the House Republicans’ impeachment list is almost comically long, and no one should be surprised if the party starts preparing to impeach others, including President Joe Biden.