If you thought Democrats’ efforts to impeach former President Donald Trump were excessive, you haven’t seen anything yet.
During an episode of CNN’s “The Axe Files with David Axelrod,” Rep. Adam Kinzinger (R-Ill.) suggested that President Joe Biden could face weekly calls for his impeachment if Republicans retake the House.
“Back before we had all the crazies here — just some crazies — you know, every vote we took, we had to somehow defund ObamaCare,” Kinzinger said.
He continued, “That’s going to look like child’s play in terms of what [Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene (R-Ga.)] is going to demand of [House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy (R-Calif.)].”
“They’re going to demand an impeachment vote on President Biden every week. They’re going to demand things like let’s make abortion illegal in all circumstances on this omnibus bill. I think it will be a very difficult majority for him to govern,” Kinzinger added.
Listen to his comments below:
On #AxeFiles, @RepKinzinger foresees stormy days for a Speaker McCarthy w/his own caucus.
— David Axelrod (@davidaxelrod) September 19, 2022
"They're going to demand an impeachment vote on President Biden every week. They're going to demand things like, 'Let's make abortion illegal in all circumstances.'"https://t.co/2nyfReGnPS pic.twitter.com/I7cOyLt1XW
Kinzinger, a member of the House committee investigating the Jan. 6 riot at the U.S. Capitol, has not been shy about calling out who he sees as the “crazies” of his party.
And he may have a point about weekly calls for Biden’s impeachment.
Already Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene (R-Ga.) has filed articles of impeachment against Biden twice. And Joe Kent, a Republican candidate for Washington’s 3rd Congressional District, said earlier this year that he believes it would be Republicans’ “job” to impeach Biden.
Sen. Ted Cruz (R-Texas) also predicted that a Republican-controlled House would impeach Biden.
Weekly impeachment votes against Biden would be a ridiculous game that would only weaken the significance of the move and make it less likely that senators would view impeachment charges as serious enough to convict a president.
But this comes after Democrats spent years calling for former President Donald Trump’s impeachment. As early as 2017, Rep. Al Green (D-Texas) filed impeachment charges against the 45th president.
And in Jan. 2019, Rep. Rashida Tlaib (D-Mich.) vowed, “When your son looks at you and said ‘Mamma, look, you won — bullies don’t win.’ And I said, ‘Baby they don’t, because we’re gonna go in there and we’re gonna impeach the motherf***er!’”
Following the Jan. 6 riot, Congress had the opportunity to send a clear message to future presidents by swiftly impeaching Trump. However, House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) delayed the process by trying to get then-Vice President Mike Pence to do the Democrats’ dirty work and invoke the 25th Amendment.
Instead, Democrats waited a week to impeach Trump in the House and the Senate’s impeachment trial did not even begin until he had left office.
What has until recently been seen as an emergency valve to remove a president for high crimes, has now essentially begun to be viewed as just another political tool to bludgeon presidents of the opposite party.
During Trump’s first impeachment, Republicans warned Democrats that future Democratic presidents would face impeachment proceedings. And it seems that those warnings could soon come to fruition.
