Cogito Ergo Non Serviam
Senate Drops Mayorkas Impeachment
The House of Representatives impeached Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas on Tuesday. The body sent two articles of impeachment to the US Senate for the trial. The articles allege the Heimatschutzminister of not enforcing immigration laws, of making false statements to Congress and to obstructing oversight into DHS policies. He denies the charges. On Wednesday, the Senate was sworn in to act as jurors. Then, the voted almost immediately to toss out the charges. The case is over and done with. And the GOP looks sillier than before
The main problem with the Republican attack was that the charges were not "high crimes and misdemeanors," as the Constitution requires. Not reaching that level, there was no point to holding a formal trial beyond voting to make it all go away.
The secondary problem with the GOP move was an inability to predict the response of the Democrats in the Senate. The Republicans had wanted to put the administration on trial for the mess at the southern border. They want the issue in order to run on it in November. They want it so badly that they have rejected a bill passed by the Senate that is, by every measure, the most right-wing, reactionary immigration bill ever. If they impeached Mr. Mayorkas, their thinking went, the trial in the Senate would be a marvelous opportunity to grandstand. What they did not count on was any resistance from Chuck Schumer and the rest of the leadership of the Senate Democrats.
Now, the impeachment is over, and there is no trial in the Senate to broadcast. Moreover, the Republicans look ineffective and petty. That will not bother their base of supporters, but the general swing voter is going to wonder why they bothered. There is an old saying about needing to kill the king if one strikes at him. The Republicans not only failed to kill him, they shot themselves in the foot in the process. They look ridiculous rather than dangerous.
The fact that the dismissal votes were straight party-line votes makes it worse for the Republicans. One could argue that people like Mitt Romney spoke for the sane right had he voted to dismiss, but he did not.
The Associated Press reported, "Even some Republicans questioned the impeachment effort from the start. Utah Sen. Mitt Romney had said for weeks that he was considering voting with Democrats to dismiss the charges but ultimately voted with his own party. After the votes, he said he does not believe the charges rise to high crimes but he did not want to dismiss them because 'it was important to engage in some level of debate'." Old Mitt got it wrong. Every Senator with an "R" by their name voted to move forward, with the exception of Susan Collins of Maine who voted "present" on one count. They now own their failure.
Then, they put a spotlight on their failure. "By voting to dismiss the Articles of Impeachment against Secretary Mayorkas without a trial, Senate Democrats just proved that they do not care about the crisis at the southern border. This violation of the Constitution sets a horrible precedent. Voters will judge those who dismissed it out of hand," Congressman August Pfluger (R-TX) said in a statement after the vote.
One wonders if Mr. Pfluger will be a member of the minority next January, or whether he will be unemployed. After this impeachment disaster, it is hard to see the House staying with the GOP.
© Copyright 2024 by The Kensington Review, Jeff Myhre, PhD, Editor. No part of this publication may be reproduced without written consent. Produced using Ubuntu Linux.
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