By Michael Goodwin
Apparently believing his first week in the White House has been flawless and the public will be extra patient with him, Joe Biden did a very foolish thing. He decided to ride the tiger of impeachment.
“I think it has to happen,” the president said in a brief TV interview about his party’s bid to try Donald Trump. Biden conceded a Senate trial would slow confirmation of his nominees and passage of legislation tied to pandemic relief, but insisted there would be “a worse effect if it didn’t happen.”
He doesn’t say what could be worse, but let’s take a guess: Democrats obsessed with getting revenge on Trump would get furious at Biden. That’s the only possible answer because only Democrats would revolt if Trump were not put in the dock.
Chalk it up to another example of Biden having trouble with the transition from partisan candidate to president. You might remember his promise to work for all Americans, no matter how they voted, but he’s already forgotten it. His dozens of executive orders and pronouncements show he’s working only for left-wing Dems.
When it comes to impeachment, he’s also late to the game. Biden’s first clear support for Nancy Pelosi’s Folly comes just as the winds are shifting in Trump’s favor and the chance of conviction is rapidly approaching zero.
The change reflects the fact that the Dems’ theater of the absurd is becoming more messy and less logical with each passing day. Tempers over the Jan.6 Capitol riot are cooling and reality is setting in about the pitfalls of a trial and the need to get on with governing during the twin public-health and economic crises.
Start with the concept of the trial itself. A CNN caption on a photo of House managers walking the single article to the Senate said it would start “only the fourth impeachment trial of a president in US history.”
Except Trump is no longer president. An honest caption would have noted this would be the first impeachment trial of a former president — and thus a private citizen — by the Senate. Doesn’t quite have the same zing, but happens to be true.
The justification for a trial is even shakier with the decision by Chief Justice John Roberts to be a no-show. Roberts has bailed out, reportedly refusing to preside because Trump is no longer president.
The Constitution says the court’s chief justice “shall preside” when the president is the accused, but Roberts either decided he doesn’t have to, or shouldn’t, because Trump is out of office.
As a result, Vermont Sen. Patrick Leahy will preside, making the Democrat both juror and judge. How’s that for fairness?
These events shoot a big hole in the Dems’ rationale, and Sen. Rand Paul created an even bigger one Tuesday. The Kentucky Republican gave a powerful speech in which he called the process a “sham” and, by asserting the trial would be unconstitutional, forced each senator to vote yes or no on the question. Only five Republicans voted “yes” with all 50 Democrats, meaning the 45 other GOP senators view the trial as unconstitutional. It is close to a given that they would also vote to acquit Trump, meaning there will be nowhere near the 67 votes needed for conviction.