Predictably, House Republicans have started to make “impeachment” noise but there at least a couple differences between Trump versus Biden as it pertains to the substantiation of any convincing charges. McCarthy is only “directing” the House to open an inquiry. In fact, assorted committees of the House have been “inquiring” the same issues for many months and have come up with nothing. Sins of the son do not impact sins of the father. The “evidence” for Trumps malefacting is rock solid and there is a mountain of it. 

Not that it matters because the Cult of Trump doesn’t care the least. Trump figured out long ago that lies and empty conspiracies work just fine for his collection of social media true believers. So the meticulously collected and timed criminal charges will just blow out into space for a third of the 2024 voters. We can only hope that these charges mean plenty to emerging new voters, but the push to impeach Biden may invoke the Principle of Unintended Consequences for McCarthy.

It must be remembered that McCarthy sold his soul many, many times over to many, many congressional members, all of whom will eventually arrive for payback. There is only a 5 seat Republican House majority and there are 18 House Republicans who represent districts won by Biden in 2020. Protecting those seats are essential to Republican control of the House. There are some Republicans in the house who publicly opine they want to see hard evidence of Biden wrongdoing before they get on board for impeachment. So far there is none remotely convincing. Hardline Republicans already calling for McCarthy’s head won’t be satisfied with an inquiry that goes nowhere. They’ll want to see charges. There’s a good chance that spells doom for some of their colleagues in 2024 when none is forthcoming.

Since the Cult of Trump is of an unknown size and polls are famously unreliable, it remains only hopeful that a sizeable enough number of voters will have no interest in electing a president hog-tied by a mountain of criminal and even civil charges. It isn’t just a matter of Trump’s incompetence anymore. It’s also the addition of his lack of character which for any other candidate would be the kiss of political death. But is there another avenue leading to Trump’s political demise?

Maybe invoking the 14th Amendment to the Constitution? Voters in Colorado filed a lawsuit testing the theory that Trump is ineligible to run for office because of the following language in the 14th (truncated by me for brevity):

“No person shall be a ***** elector of President *****, or hold any office, civil or military, under the United States, ******** who, having previously taken an oath, ********as an officer of the United States, ********to support the Constitution of the United States, shall have engaged in insurrection or rebellion against the same, or given aid or comfort to the enemies thereof.”

This wording was to prevent secessionists of the Civil War from walking back into power in the states where they’d just been defeated. Several respected senior jurists have opined that this section of the 14th effectively renders Trump ineligible to run for the President of the United States. Technically, this wording was specifically designed to cull out any candidate who betrays their oaths to the Constitution, by, among other specifications, “waging war on our government by attempting to overturn a presidential election through a bloodless coup.” Sounds cut & dried.

But David Frum in this month’s Atlantic, says not so fast. The wording was specifically pointed toward Civil War issues which cloud current issues. Interpretation of the events of January 6 mean different things to different people and the ensuing arguments about it could go on to eternal litigation about what those words mean. Likewise, it would be unclear how Trump could be removed from all the State ballots. There is no single national ballot. 

Frum says:  “If Section 3 can be reactivated in this way ****, Republicans will hunt for Democrats to disqualify, and not only for president, but for any race where Democrats present someone who said or did something that can be represented as ‘aid and comfort’ to enemies of the United States.”

Reluctantly, I’m afraid I’ll have to agree with David From. The spirit of the 14th is clear but invoking it in 2024 would open a legal Pandora’s Box that would guarantee rage and chaos for decades. The only sure way to stop Trump is with a resounding and undeniable defeat at the ballot box.  We can only hope (and vote).

DWC