A Peach of a Year for Republican Impeachments

Having nothing better to do, and unable to think up rational and useful legislation, Republicans in the U.S. Congress are on an impeachment crusade. We all know how well crusades usually work out, not to mention impeachments.

But they’re at it again

The latest victim is a guy named Alejandro Mayorkas, a fellow unfamiliar to most of us, who heads up the Department of Homeland Security. A delegation of more than 60 House Republicans named Mayorkas “the greatest domestic threat to the national security and safety of the American people.”

I might have thought that honor would be better awarded to their chosen candidate for president, but then the Republicans in Congress have become a squirrelly bunch these days.

Any port in a storm comes to mind

Lest I be charged with the crime of ranting against the opposition, I was once a Republican myself in those less turbulent days prior to Ronald Reagan’s Oscar-worthy role as president for two consecutive terms. Republicans attempted to impeach Bill Clinton for a blow-job, certainly an un-presidential activity, but hardly one that’s a ‘threat to the national security.’ It was really more of a threat to good manners, but unthinkable is hardly impeachable no matter the unsavory image that cannot be unthought.

Even tricky-Dick’s invasion of Watergate was more a matter of getting caught and then lying about it. I remember saying at the time that he should have simply admitted the maneuver, copping-out to something both parties do all the time.

And so it goes…the flavor-of-the-month for January is impeachment

Democrats are equally to blame, as if that would surprise anyone. Those who can count, an accepted prerequisite of congressional membership, should have known that taking a run at Trump was a non-starter. Thus, impeachment has become an acceptable substitute for not liking someone very much. It would be hard to find, outside of sports, a larger gathering of adults who dislike one another than the Congress of the United States.

Is it effective? No. Will it make newspaper headlines when you’re unable to do any useful legislative work and an election is on the horizon? You bet.

Drumroll…and the current recipients of Republican impeachment threats are…

Joe Biden, current president of the United States, charged with ‘not working and playing well with others’ in a note from the principal.

Rep. Lauren Boebert (R-Colo.) introduced a procedural measure to force a floor vote on her impeachment articles, which led to internal sparring and a days-long clash between GOP leaders and the congresswoman. The House voted to punt the resolution to committees and avoid making lawmakers vote on it on the floor, mostly because they hoped and prayed someone with a better reputation than Boebert would sponsor the article.

Attorney General of the United States Merrick Garland, charged with ‘being Attorney General of the United States.’

Then Speaker Kevin McCarthy (R-Calif.) brought up impeaching Garland a while back (in a failed attempt to save his speakership), tying it to the Department of Justice’s handling of the investigations into Hunter Biden, alleging political bias and DOJ “weaponization.” Kind of a laugher, seeing that Republican Jim Jordan invented (and heads) a ‘Select Subcommittee on the Weaponization of the Federal Government,’ ostensibly organized ‘to examine the federal government's role in censoring Americans, the Missouri v. Biden case, and Big Tech's collusion with out-of-control government agencies to silence speech.’

To quote a great Abbot and Costello act, “Who’s on First?”

Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas, charged with ‘allowing migrants to cross the southern border’ when floating razor-wire in Texas was doing a perfectly fine job.

Both Republican and Democratic administrations have failed at stemming the surge of migrants trying to emigrate from Mexico and other Central American countries in recent years. So, it has become political party rhetoric for whichever party is out of power to blame the other for the problem. For his part, Donald Trump (the leading Republican presidential candidate) vowed to take aggressive new steps to deport immigrants with criminal records and suspected gang members by using the little-known 1789 Alien Enemies Act. One can but wonder how and where he dug that one up? He would deputize the National Guard and local law enforcement to assist with rapid deportations of criminals in states that cooperate, although he might have Pentagon push-back on that.

So, that’s the agenda, when a legislative agenda has gone begging…

Will Rogers, our revered cowboy comedian of a hundred years ago, had it nailed, and his opinion is as relevant today as in decades past:

“Everything is changing. People are taking their comedians seriously and the politicians as a joke.” If that doesn’t fairly represent the times, try this one:

“There are three kinds of men. The one that learns by reading. The few who learn by observation. The rest of them have to pee on the electric fence for themselves.”