The real story behind this “Biden impeachment” bait and switch
Remember a few months back when House Republicans held a public hearing that they claimed was a “Biden impeachment inquiry hearing” but it turned out to be nothing? It was obvious that they were only doing it to get the words “Biden” and “impeachment” into the same headline as many times as possible. And in that sense it worked. A lot of people, on both sides, thought Biden was being impeached.
Now House Republicans are at it again. They don’t like that they had to expel George Santos. They don’t like that Donald Trump’s criminal trial is coming up soon. And they don’t like that Trump is very stupidly reminding everyone that the Republican Party is opposed to health care. So House Republicans are once again making noise about a supposed Biden impeachment.
There’s still no indication that House Republicans have enough votes to impeach Biden. We just saw the most vulnerable House Republicans in toss-up districts derail a potential government shutdown for the third time this year, because they were worried that a shutdown would make them look bad and cost them their seats in 2024. Are these same folks going to take the risk of turning around and voting to impeach Biden based on no evidence?
Even if House Republicans do find the votes to impeach Biden, there is literally zero chance that the Senate would remove him. And impeaching Biden for such nonsensical reasons would merely end up making him more popular heading into 2024. So if they do end up deciding to impeach Biden, that’s their call. But it still seems unlikely.
So why all the impeachment noise? It’s the same game as before. House Republicans are taking the steps they’re taking for the sole purpose of getting the media to start putting the words “Biden” and “impeachment” together in headlines. That’s a ratings goldmine for the media on both sides, because anti-Biden folks love hearing about the idea of impeachment, and pro-Biden folks worry about the idea of impeachment.
House Republicans don’t like the current political headlines, so they’re putting impeachment hype out there instead. It’s as simple as that. It doesn’t mean they will or won’t impeach Biden. But the odds of impeachment are probably no higher today than they were a month ago.
House Republicans appear to be trying to have it both ways by making their own idiot base think they’re taking action on impeaching Biden, without having to stick their necks out by actually impeaching Biden. Even as we fight back against this sham impeachment effort that’s based on nothing more than unhinged conspiracy theories, let’s also keep in mind that it doesn’t even appear to actually be an impeachment effort. This is, essentially, a sham about a sham.
Bill Palmer is the publisher of the political news outlet Palmer Report