As we sit in the fresh aftermath of the impeachment of President Donald Trump–only the third president in the history of the United States to receive such an honor–Sen. Mitch McConnell (R-KY) is digging all the way in with his party-over-country rhetoric, recently saying:
“I am not an impartial juror. This is a political process, there’s not anything judicial about it. Impeachment is a political decision.”
McConnell knows exactly what he’s doing; after all, he’s a snake committed to destroying every norm in our system as long as it means continued Republican dominance. But let the rest of us be clear here: impeachment is not a political process. Or rather, it’s not political in any meaningful way.
Impeachment is an explicit power of the House of Representatives as outlined in Article I, Section 2 of the U.S. Constitution (funny, you’d think this “pro-Constitution” crowd would know that!) As Adam Schiff (D-CA) reminds us: “It was a constitutional remedy meant for a President […] who put his personal interests over that of the nation.” The Founders escaped a king and didn’t want to put up another. So they empowered the representatives–the elected voice of the people (“people”, with all the usual caveats of the time)–to prevent that from happening. “High crimes and misdemeanors” are not a joke; it is a serious accusation that should be handled as objectively as possible.
Yes, impeachment is triggered by politicians. It and the ensuing trial are carried out by politicians. And politicians do, well, politics, so in that sense I suppose it’s political. But that’s a truism. Impeachment should not be political in the sense that it’s partisan; where the Republicans are somehow justified in defending their guy because “The Democrats started it.” That’s not being objective nor is it treating this process with the gravity it deserves.
Of course, McConnell is fully aware. This rhetoric is but another round of his smoke and mirrors, a la “We won’t hold hearings for Merrick Garland because it’s an election year.” Once again he’s taking a hammer to our system for personal and party gain, but weakening impeachment–the legislative check on executive overreach–is certainly a new low.
The upcoming month is going to be very interesting.
Other quick hits:
- The New York Yankees announced their 9 year, $324MM ace in Gerrit Cole in the Bronx today. What can I say? He did everything right (he even brought THE SIGN) and instantly won the hearts of all Yankees Faithful. 99 days until Opening Day!
- HBO’s Watchmen series ended excellently on Sunday. And today, the other Watchmen series–DC’s Doomsday Clock–released its final issue. Time to party like it’s 1985?
- Early Rise of Skywalker returns are…not good! But we’ll tackle that beast later.
I am feeling melancholy today. Like, I am happy he was finally impeached. And I am happy that such a shocking number of people are in support of it (we’re at the levels Nixon was polling at before he got near-removed). But, I dunno. It’s sad. It’s sad we are here. I’m feeling a different kind of sad today.
McConnell is disgusting. I am worried that long after he is rotting in his grave, the standard has been set to violate the Constitution as much as your peers will let you. I am not a lawyer but I want some smart people to beef up the structure of our federal government. There is no reason that one person should be as powerful as Mitch McConnell.
McConnell is worse than trump because he’s playing the long game. He’s installed his protege Daniel Cameron as AG of Kentucky in spite of his not having practiced law long enough to qualify. (When your judges sit on the bench you get the rulings you want.) He’s grooming Cameron for his Senate seat when he retires, and eventually to be governor of Kentucky. And Cameron is young, 34, his political career is just starting. So we have a possible 40 years of slimy workings learned at the knee of the malevolent turtle.
But McConnell didn’t get this powerful on his own. Obviously he had full support of an increasingly corrupt GOP but where were the Dems while he was amassing power? Why weren’t they fighting to stop him? Were they oblivious, playing nice because it also benefited them? Were they just coasting, comfortable in their positions, counting on constituents not be aware enough to demand they get off their asses and do something?
I don’t think it’s too late for the Dems to rein the GOP in. But Joe Biden isn’t going to do it. He doesn’t even want to, Pete Buttegieg isn’t going to do it.
McConnell is worse because he has leveraged all 3 branches to do his bidding. He runs the legislative. He stacked the judicial with 2 staunch conservatives and just made up some bullshit to block a progressive candidate. He more or less held the door open for Trump. And for as dense and narcissistic as Trump is, he’s not stupid enough to think that McConnell could flip a switch and turn off any support for Trump if he thought it would threaten the Senate majority.
McConnell is the worst. He controls all 3 branches more effectively than Trump. He runs the legislative. He rammed 2 conservative judges onto SCOTUS while blatantly making up bullshit rules to deny a progressive candidate. And he more or less paved the way for Trump. So much so, that for as narcissistic and dense as Trump is, even he realizes that McConnell is his lifeline to stay in power. If Trump crosses him, and it looks like Trump could cost the Senate majority, McConnell will cut ties to him so quick, your head will spin.
…he’s really something, isn’t he?
…tough for even a turtle to stoop that low…
“…is a political decision”
goddamn right it’s a political decision, you political motherfucker – & you’re the motherfucking politician that ought to be making the right one…on account of how that’s your goddamned job you misbegotten one-man legislative lynch mob motherfucker…like the other several hundred things that house has passed over to rot in your in-tray while you bray about this kind of pre-adolescent bullshit…
…sorry…
…might be a mite ticked off about a thing or two…
…I’ll shut up again…