House GOP Priorities: Expunge Impeachments

Nothing to see here.

Way back two years ago now, Kevin McCarthy screamed at Trump with utter disdain over the phone. Mike Pence was set up to be killed if he fell into the wrong hands. Nearly the entire Republican party, including Trump’s cabinet, knew that Trump was responsible for something horrific that happened that day, the most severe attack on democracy since the Civil War.

But that’s all in the past now. Because the Democrats dared to investigate on January 6th (After inviting a 50-50 investigation only to be turned down), the House GOP is literally trying to make it disappear.

I am not even sure the Constitution allows an impeachment to be expunged, not that it matters to the House GOP. But according to The Hill:

Speaker Kevin McCarthy said on Thursday that he would consider expunging one or both of former President Trump’s impeachments. “I would understand why members would want to bring that forward,” McCarthy said in response to a question at a press conference on Thursday.

Get used to hearing that response from McCarthy a lot. “I understand why some members…” because each and every one of those Republicans hold a gavel over McCarthy’s head. Other than to protect Trump’s feelings, I’m not sure why… No, I’m pretty sure why. We’ll get there.

In the last Congress, a group of more than 30 House Republicans led by Rep. Markwayne Mullin (R-Okla.) put forward a resolution to expunge Trump’s impeachment in the wake of the Jan. 6, 2021, attack on the Capitol. The resolution was supported by Republican Conference Chairman Elise Stefanik.

Don’t worry. There are some that want to expunge Trump’s Ukrainian extortion, too. But January 6th is the one that they really want. Soooo, why?

It goes beyond protecting Trump’s feelings, though that is a part of it. It is the next step in removing January 6th from the country’s history. It never really happened. This is a highly dangerous party that looks to be on the verge of normalizing violence in politics or at least normalizing the threat of violence. I wrote an article in November about how I couldn’t see past November 10, 2024. I said there was an impenetrable fog, and it’s based on one crucial notion. Can you foresee any situation in which the Republicans concede the presidential election if/when the Democrat (Biden, presumptively) wins? If the Republican wins, it’ll be another election in which there is a massive popular vote loss, perhaps even ten million this time, and how long are Democrats supposed to keep putting up with that?

But focusing on the Republicans, they want that looming threat of violence out there. They want the public intimidated when they say they won and it was stolen again (because it will be close with respect to the Electoral College and the Supreme Court might be about to greenlight state legislators sending whatever electors they want, no court review. That is a completely different story.) So let’s say that Arizona and Georgia, faced with another very close vote, decide to have an “investigation” by the legislature, which – inevitably – finds “something wrong” and sends Republican electors. Democrats will [rightly] freak the fffff out, and… the GOP has a vested interest in intimidation.

Other than Trump’s feelings and the need to “get back” at the Democrats, I think that wiping January 6th clean, acting as though it wasn’t that bad, that abnormal, or that scary, is critical.

Just a guess. But expect McCarthy to put it up for a vote even if there is no precedent and it’s procedurally meaningless. When we win back the House in 2024, we can “reinstate” the impeachments, and the game goes on…
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[email protected], @JasonMiciak, And Check Out SUBSTACK: AN IMPENETRABLE FOG  ALREADY FORECAST FOR NOVEMBER 10, 2024

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