Opinion
The GOP wants to impeach Biden for ‘corruption’? Don’t make me laugh.
By
Paul Waldman
Columnist|
September 18, 2023 at 7:15 a.m. EDT
Rep. Kevin McCarthy (R-Calif.) listens as President Donald Trump delivers remarks outside the White House in January 2019. (Jabin Botsford/The Washington Post)
Comment1683
If one tried to articulate the principle on which the Republican push
to impeach President Biden is based, it would have to go something like this: Public officials shouldn’t be permitted to profit from their positions, and anyone who does should be removed from office. Like any principle, this one should apply to every public official regardless of party or ideology.
But if any Republican said that out loud, the proper response would be to burst out laughing.
This isn’t just because Republicans have found no evidence that Biden is guilty of wrongdoing, despite the tireless efforts of multiple House committees. Nor is it because they have defended the relentless quest of the Trump family to profit from former president Donald Trump’s time in the White House. Hypocrisy might be the tribute vice pays to virtue, but Republicans stopped paying any tribute to virtue long ago. They sped right past hypocrisy to arrive at something entirely different.
Republicans are not characterizing their impeachment push against Biden as an attempt to bring strict ethical standards back to government. There’s no high-minded talk of integrity, moral rectitude or the solemn obligations of public service. That’s because they are in the midst of a years-long crusade to convince the public to not care about corruption.
That crusade is only partly about defending Trump, perhaps the most shamelessly corrupt president in U.S. history. He installed his laughably unqualified family members in White House positions. He spent a good amount of time in office at his various resorts,
charging the Secret Service as much as $1,185 a night per room to stay there to protect him. His Washington hotel became a destination for anyone who wanted to put some money directly in his pocknewspaper et; foreign governments
spent millions of dollars there, as did a fleet of Republican candidates and party flunkies. Foreign governments also eagerly
gave special favors to Trump’s businesses. His relentless advocacy for the government of Saudi Arabia while in office was followed by the Saudis giving
son-in-law Jared Kushner $2 billion for his start-up private equity firm, even though the Saudis’ own investment advisers found Kushner’s operation “unsatisfactory in all aspects.”