The Patriot Post® · The Politics of Impeachment

Much has been said this week — mostly by Democrats — as House Republicans moved forward with a 221-212 party-line vote on an impeachment inquiry into the influence-peddling operation of Joe Biden.

“These are not serious people,” said seriously censured California Congressman Adam Schiff. “This is not a serious impeachment inquiry.”

Echoing the Left’s “unserious” theme was CNN anchor Erin Burnett, who said, “221 people, without evidence, voted to launch an impeachment inquiry.”

Without evidence. Really? Constitutional law professor Jonathan Turley, for one, begs to differ. When he testified before Congress in late September, he made clear that he’d already seen and heard enough to meet the threshold for such an inquiry. He reiterated this position in a column Wednesday headlined, “Don’t believe Democrats’ myths: There’s clear evidence for investigating President Biden.”

Turley then lists those three myths, those three refrains that have been repeated ad nauseam by defenders of the president: that Joe Biden did not benefit from the influence peddling; that it’s about Hunter Biden’s addictions, not his actions; and that it’s all about Hunter’s truck — that is, the bank records that Republicans say are direct evidence of influence-peddling payouts from Hunter to the Big Guy are really just the repayment of a loan for Hunter’s truck.

As Turley said, don’t believe it. There’s plenty of smoke and fire.

But while Turley is serious about these things, one person is decidedly unserious: Hunter Biden himself. Clearly, the noted artist and first son is upset by all the trouble he’s caused his old man. It was Hunter’s abandonment of a deeply incriminating laptop computer at a Delaware repair shop, after all, that set all this in motion.

As we reported yesterday, the normally reticent Hunter was on Capitol Hill Wednesday morning, where he railed against those mean-spirited “MAGA Republicans” and defied a subpoena to appear before the House Oversight Committee for a private deposition.

“They’ve invaded my privacy, attacked my wife and children,” he railed. They’ve “tried to dehumanize me and embarrass and damage my father.”

Whoa, they’re trying to embarrass the old man? The nerve of those MAGA Republicans, muscling in on Hunter’s own turf. If anyone’s going to embarrass Joe Biden, it’s going to be the guy with the hookers and the blow and the crack pipes and the naked selfies.

As for Joe Biden himself, he issued a White House statement on Wednesday dismissing this as a “baseless House Republican impeachment stunt.” He then went on to catalog all the hard work he’s doing on behalf of the American people: “We have to address the situation at our southern border,” he said, richly, “and I am determined to try to fix the problem. We need funding to strengthen border security, but Republicans in Congress won’t act to help.”

Got that? Only now that he’s facing the lowest poll numbers of any incumbent president to ever run for reelection, only now that he’s already allowed untold millions of illegals to invade our country is he interested in securing the southern border. This guy. He continued:

I wake up every day focused on the issues facing the American people — real issues that impact their lives, and the strength and security of our country and the world. Unfortunately, House Republicans are not joining me. Instead of doing anything to help make Americans’ lives better, they are focused on attacking me with lies. Instead of doing their job on the urgent work that needs to be done, they are choosing to waste time on this baseless political stunt that even Republicans in Congress admit is not supported by facts.

Again, there are plenty of facts at the GOP’s disposal. But impeachment is, first and foremost, a political act. And so far, Republicans have gotten the politics right. They’ve been methodical, and they haven’t gotten out over their skis. As the editors of National Review write: “This is a political victory for House Speaker Mike Johnson. Prior to yesterday, Republicans didn’t have the votes for an inquiry and had relied on the Nancy Pelosi precedent of simply deeming an inquiry open. This was embarrassing, since they had so strenuously objected to Pelosi’s tactic back during the Trump administration. Now, thanks to the unanimous support of their members, they have done it the right way.”

The Democrats did it wrong when they impeached Donald Trump, and the country largely knows it. By doing this the right way, Republicans can clearly illustrate to the American people which political party is the serious one and which party deserves their vote of confidence.