The recent impeachment proceedings have shown that the Republican party is having severe problems. The proceedings were centered on addressing the allegations of misconduct by high-ranking officials. It was supposed to showcase the GOP’s ability to hold those in power accountable for their misconduct.
Instead, the process led to internal disagreement and failed to pass a unified message to the public. It showed that the party struggled to maintain unity and direction when faced with external pressures.
The leader of the Republican party, Mike Johnson, has been criticized a lot. Many have slammed him, suggesting that his leadership is incompetent. This comes after Johnson failed to impeach Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas. Mayorkas was to be impeached over his handling of the southern border.
The decision to televise the impeachment attempt against a Cabinet official was bold. However, failing to secure enough votes made the House Republicans incompetent. They didn’t have solid support to bring a bill to the floor.
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House GOP leaders had shown confidence leading up to the vote. Although they were aware beforehand that at least a few Republican members would break ranks and vote against impeachment. “I’m confident that we have all our guys here. We’ll be able to do this,” House Majority Whip Tom Emmer told The Hill.
The House vote ended with a tally of 214-216. Three Republicans—Colorado Representative Ken Buck, Wisconsin Representative Mike Gallagher, and California Representative Tom McClintock—broke ranks and aligned with Democrats in opposing the resolution. Additionally, GOP Representative Blake Moore switched sides to join the “no” votes, a strategic move allowing the House GOP to revisit the vote later.
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House Republicans had been promising to impeach Mayorkas for months. The impeachment failure played right into the White House’s hands. It portrayed Johnson’s majority as a tool for Donald Trump’s political maneuvers rather than a serious governing entity. This raised doubts about the GOP’s ability to make another political move to please Trump, like impeaching President Biden.
Their efforts to impeach Mayorkas faced strong opposition from the Biden administration and the Department of Homeland Security. “The effort to impeach Secretary Mayorkas represents a dramatic departure from over two centuries of established understanding and precedent about the meaning of the Impeachment Clause of the Constitution and the proper exercise of that extraordinary tool,” Homeland Security lawyers wrote in a letter to the House Rules Committee.
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Also, Johnson and House Republicans recently shelved what could have been the strictest immigration law in years. This came despite months of pushing for changes to asylum policies due to an influx of undocumented migrants at the southern border. It seems they did so because Trump, the top contender for the GOP presidential nomination, prefers to exploit the border crisis for political gain.
Last Tuesday, the speaker revealed his reasoning for not moving on the measure. “Even if we could concoct – both houses of Congress and send it to the president’s desk for a signature – the greatest border security measure that has ever been designed, we have no faith that Secretary Mayorkas, of course, would enforce it. He doesn’t enforce the laws that are on the books now.”
There have been speculations about the possibility of Mayorkas facing impeachment. However, the impeachment would be almost impractical given the lack of progress expected in the Democratic-controlled Senate.
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