Republicans failed in their efforts to impeach Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas and their efforts to impeach President Joe Biden turned into a bigger, more embarrassing flop. But why quit when you’re behind?
From The Daily Beast:
Rep. Andy Ogles (R-TN) filed the articles of impeachment against Harris on Tuesday, claiming she “demonstrated extraordinary incompetence in the execution of her duties and responsibilities, a stark refusal to uphold the existing immigration laws, and a palpable indifference to people of the United States suffering as a result of the ongoing southern border crisis in the United States.”
The same day, Ogles sent Harris a letter urging her to invoke the 25th Amendment, Fox News Digital first reported, which would allow the Vice President to take over temporarily—or permanently—if the president is incapacitated for some reason. Biden announced he had COVID on Wednesday.
I’m not against performative actions in Congress if they serve a larger purpose. For example, AOC’s impeachment resolutions against Supreme Court Justices Samuel Alito and Clarence Thomas. There’s real wrongdoing from those two that calls out for more public scrutiny.
But Harris will neither be impeached nor endure any extra scrutiny than she will as a presidential candidate. Ogles should know. As The Daily Beast noted, he first filed articles of impeachment against her in 2023 but the effort never made it out of the House Judiciary Committee. If anything, Harris’ star has risen higher. There is huge support for her presidential candidacy and there is off-the-chart fundraising to match.
It's possible Ogles thinks this latest round of impeachment articles will get Speaker Mike Johnson behind the effort. The Daily Beast also pointed out that if his efforts were to succeed, Johnson would become president.
Even if Republicans had the political will to go forward with a Harris impeachment, there’s nowhere near enough time to get it done before the election, just a little more than four months away. If they managed to supercharge the process, there’s no way the Democratic-controlled Senate would convict.
You know that saying that the definition of insanity is doing the same thing over and over and expecting a different result? It certainly seems to apply to the House GOP. All this time and effort spent on futile impeachments when they could have been working on the immigration problem they claim to care so much about, or the cost of housing or health care, etc.
But the label “crazy” could apply to Ogles for other reasons. He’s got a fake resumé that could make George Santos jealous. An investigation by NewsChannel 5 revealed Ogles wildly exaggerated his claims to be “a businessman, … also an economist, a nationally recognized expert in tax policy and health care, a trained police officer, even an expert in international sex crimes.” There are serious ethical questions about his finances, too.
He also called the Jan. 6 insurrection “peaceful.”
And then there’s his 2021 Christmas card:
