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Ahead of the 2022 midterm elections, there was plenty of talk about congressional Republicans and their interest in impeachment proceedings. A New York Times report noted last fall, for example, that a “Republican-led stream of impeachments, as some lawmakers have promised ... could serve as an endless string of distractions for the executive branch.”
To date, that hasn’t happened — at least in part because the House’s GOP majority has focused much of its attention on threatening to impose a deliberate economic catastrophe unless Democrats agree to a series of radically regressive demands. But it’d be an exaggeration to say the subject has disappeared entirely.
As American Bridge was first to note, Sen. Ron Johnson spoke to conservative radio host Dan O’Donnell last week, and the Wisconsin Republican managed to say something relatively responsible, at least for him. The senator reminded the host that it’s unrealistic to think that the Senate would convict President Joe Biden, even if he were impeached, adding, “Quite honestly, we have to stop this impeaching every president, you know, the back and forth. It’s not healthy for our system.”
For those of us who’ve come to expect Johnson to say ridiculous things about a wide variety of subjects, this was a pleasant change of pace — or at least it would’ve been were it not for the GOP lawmaker’s other comments from the same interview.
During the same on-air appearance, O’Donnell asked the senator whether Johnson believes the House should impeach Biden — neither the host nor the guest specified what it is the Democrat should be impeached over — and whether Johnson would vote to convict in response to unspecified charges that don’t exist. The Wisconsin Republican replied:
“First of all, yes, I would do anything to get rid of Joe Biden, okay, in a legal process. Again, he was so unfit, he never should have been elected. What I would do if I was in the House, I would impeach [Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro] Mayorkas. I would impeach people like [Secretary of State Antony] Blinken.”
After O’Donnell pressed further on the president’s future, Johnson expressed confidence that House Oversight Committee Chairman James Comer is “laying this stuff out.”
So, a couple of things.
First, Comer is doing a lot of things, but presenting a coherent case against the incumbent president is not one of them.
Second, it’s a little tough to take Johnson seriously when, over the course of two minutes, he both rejects the idea of impeaching Biden and endorses Biden’s impeachment, going so far as to say he’d vote to convict in response to imagined charges he hasn’t seen.
And third, at last count, assorted GOP officials have endorsed impeaching at least six members of the White House cabinet — seven if we include FBI Director Chris Wray — and as Johnson sees it, that’s the direction he’d like to see House Republicans pursue.
The only time in American history that a cabinet secretary was impeached was in 1876, when the House impeached Secretary of War William Belknap — after he left office — over alleged bribes. (He was later acquitted by senators.)
Will this be the Congress that adds to the list? Evidently, Wisconsin’s far-right senior senator — the Senate GOP’s “foremost amplifier of conspiracy theories and disinformation“ — hopes so.