Get Mad

“Leo, we need to be investigated by someone who wants to kill us just to watch us die. We need someone perceived by the American people to be irresponsible, untrustworthy, partisan, ambitious, and thirsty for the limelight. Am I crazy, or is this not a job for the U. S. House of Representatives?” – White House Press Secretary CJ Cregg – The West Wing (TV Show) – 2001

World Turned Upside Down

All of the old “rules” of politics are out the window.  What was “up” is now “sideways”.  As the British Army surrendered to General Washington at Yorktown, the band played – “The World Turned Upside Down”.  And they thought things were crazy then.  

Here’s today’s logic:  every time the former President and current candidate is criminally indicted, his polling numbers get stronger.  His campaign raised $10 million by marketing his “Mug Shot”.  Remember when we used to look through the  “BUSTED” newspaper, looking for acquaintances, or just the goofiest face going to jail?  Now it’s financing a Presidential campaign.  

All Smoke

The most recent  Facebook “meme” states the United States is spending more money for Ukraine’s defense then to support American cities, and claims that money goes into Joe Biden’s pocket.  That’s false on its face:  US support for Ukraine in the past year was $76.8 billion (CFR).  The US government spent $482 billion on student loan programs alone, much less infra-structure improvement, and all of the other domestic spending (CBO).  What’s the leading Republican, James Comer’s, answer about finding evidence against President Biden?  “I sure hope so. And I do believe that there’s a lot of smoke. And where there’s smoke, there’s fire.” (Medialite).

We don’t convict on smoke.  We often don’t even convict on fire, as the Mueller Report demonstrated.  But, in our “world turned upside down” the Republican House of Representatives might try.  Speaker Kevin McCarthy is moving to begin an “impeachment inquiry” of President Joe Biden.  He wants to show the “smoke” to the Nation at large – on the biggest stage possible, a Presidential impeachment hearing and trial.

Impeach

If the Republicans in the House of Representatives vote to begin an impeachment inquiry of Biden, they will be irrevocably committed to impeaching him.  The Democratic House would have done the same on the much stronger Mueller evidence, had Speaker Pelosi let it come to the floor.  But she didn’t.  Don’t be surprised if we spend the December and January watching Biden hearings, followed by a brief Senate trial.  In the end not even all forty-nine Senate Republicans will vote to remove him from office, much less the sixty-seven total necessary to convict.  

It’s not about “smoke” or “fire”.  It’s about elections.  McCarthy’s Republicans believe they can drag Biden’s polling down so far, that even Donald Trump could beat him for President in 2024.  But that’s the confusing part for me.  If all of this “fire” on Trump is building him up, filling his campaign war-chest, and solidifying his support – why won’t that work for Biden?

You Came Here

I know, we Democrats are the “good guys” (at least in our own minds).  We don’t want flawed candidates for office.  Ask Al Franken.  But maybe Democrats need to face up to the reality of today’s politics.  As the Cheshire cat said in Lewis Carroll’s Alice in Wonderland; “Oh, you can’t help that,” said the Cat: “we’re all mad here. I’m mad. You’re mad.” “How do you know I’m mad?” said Alice. “You must be,” said the Cat, or you wouldn’t have come here.”

We are in a mad “Wonderland” of politics.  Maybe Democrats need to take a page from the Trump “playbook”.  Trump says that any publicity is better than none, even indictments and “mug shots”.   Maybe the Biden White House should realize that, in spite of their desire to return to “normal” politics, that isn’t our world today.  They need to “get mad”, because if they aren’t mad, they shouldn’t have come here.

And as CJ Cregg said in that West Wing episode over twenty years ago, maybe it’s the “job for the US House of Representatives”.   Speaker McCarthy is going to deliver that up on a silver platter.  Instead of finding a way “out” of impeachment, the Bidens should say – “game on”: and get mad.