Republican Rep. Ken Buck of Colorado continues to antagonize the GOP’s anti-establishment base.
On Monday, Buck slammed Republican Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene of Georgia for her overzealous and “absurd” quest to impeach President Joe Biden.
Meanwhile, Buck’s attack on Greene and especially his broader anti-impeachment stance have some Republicans contemplating punitive measures, including a possible 2024 primary challenge to Buck’s deep-red seat in Colorado’s 4th congressional district.
Since 2020, Buck has drawn the ire of the GOP’s MAGA wing for his vote to certify the 2020 election, his criticism of former President Donald Trump and his support for Trump enemies such as former Republican Rep. Liz Cheney.
In recent days, Buck has rankled Republicans yet again by making the rounds on establishment media.
According to the New Republic, Buck appeared on MSNBC Sunday and took a shot at Greene over impeachment.
“Well, Marjorie filed articles of impeachment on President Biden before he was sworn into office … so the idea that she is now the expert on impeachment or that she is someone who should set the timing on impeachment is absurd,” Buck said.
“The time for impeachment is the time when there’s evidence linking President Biden — if there’s evidence — linking President Biden to a high crime or misdemeanor,” Buck added. “That doesn’t exist right now.”
On Tuesday, after House Speaker Kevin McCarthy announced that the House would open an impeachment inquiry, Buck appeared on CNN and delivered the same nonsensical message he gave to MSNBC.
“I have not seen any evidence that links President Biden to Hunter Biden’s activities at this point,” Buck told host Anderson Cooper. Buck added that he would receive a briefing soon and thus implied that he could change his mind.
Buck also suggested that McCarthy only initiated the impeachment inquiry in response to pressure from Trump’s allies.
“But what he’s — what Speaker McCarthy is doing — is he has President Biden on the one hand — or I’m sorry, President Trump on the one hand, who is demanding that the House open an impeachment inquiry and begin an impeachment of President Biden, and on the other hand he has spending bills that are coming up, and he needs the support of members of the Republican conference to help get that continuing resolution passed and appropriations bills,” Buck said.
GOP Rep. Ken Buck: “I have not seen any evidence that links President Biden to Hunter Biden’s activities at this point.” pic.twitter.com/X5l67dAx2H
— TheBlaze (@theblaze) September 13, 2023
Earlier Tuesday, CNN reported that some Republicans have grown tired of Buck’s antics. In fact, three GOP sources told CNN that Buck might face a serious primary challenge.
Greene even suggested that Buck has no business serving on the Judiciary Committee.
“I really don’t see how we can have a member on Judiciary that is flat out refusing to impeach,” she said.
One Republican described Buck as fully captured by both the establishment and the establishment media.
“Everyone on Capitol Hill knows that Ken Buck has given up on his work with the Freedom Caucus, the Foreign Affairs Committee and the Judiciary Committee so that he can try-out for jobs with TV networks or the Biden administration,” the GOP source said.
“We call him buckle,” another Republican lawmaker said.
In fairness, Buck still has prominent and magnanimous GOP defenders.
“You can agree to disagree,” Republican Rep. Chip Roy of Texas said. “We have slightly different views about what high crimes and misdemeanors look like. I’ve studied this and looked at the history of it, and I’m more than comfortable about an impeachment inquiry. But I look forward to talking to Ken about it in person.”
Buck, of course, did not tell the truth about the evidence against Biden.
In a fiery press conference on Tuesday, Freedom Caucus Chair and Republican Rep. Scott Perry of Pennsylvania summarized that evidence for any fair-minded listener.
Perry noted, for instance, that the Bidens own homes they could not possibly afford on congressional salaries alone. Bank records, shell companies and payments from overseas interests help fill out the picture of corruption.
Buck’s inability to see this raises questions about his own motives.
In the 17th installment of “Cato’s Letters,” published Feb. 18, 1721, the great English polemicist John Trenchard described how true political insiders treat accusations of corruption leveled against their nominal opponents.
“They will not suffer any men, who have once tasted of authority, though personally their enemies…to be called to an account for past crimes, though ever so enormous. They will make no such precedents for their own punishment,” Trenchard wrote.
Has Buck’s immersion in D.C. politics rendered him unable to spot obvious corruption?
Or has it made him unwilling to do so?
This article appeared originally on The Western Journal.
