Originally Authored at TheFederalist.com
Congressional Republicans are history’s most powerful court jesters. More concerned with earning momentary praise and social access from the people who hate them and their voters, they routinely refuse to deliver results for their constituents or capitalize on potential political wins.
Just look at House Republicans’ failed attempt at impeaching Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas due to three members siding with Democrats. Republicans walked away from doing something their voters desperately wanted done and fumbled what should have been an incredibly easy political win.
Much like the party’s refusal to take meaningful action in protecting the unborn, Republicans don’t want to impeach anybody. They want to puff their chest, grift donations, then capitulate at the last second so it looks like they fought a real fight.
When was the last time the GOP actually used the power given to it by voters to meaningfully advance a conservative agenda? The party’s only purpose is to marginally slow down the left as it completely conquers and remakes the nation.
But when it comes to needlessly expelling and endlessly denouncing their former colleague George Santos, Republicans clamored over each other to be the first in line to sabotage their already razor-thin margins.
“The GOP, in a nutshell, can’t govern,” Santos said while speaking to The Federalist about Republicans’ failed attempt at impeaching Mayorkas, “It doesn’t know how to.”
“The majority of Republicans live in abject horror trying to appease Democrats … they want to be accepted,” he said.
Defective Reps. Ken Buck of Colorado, Mike Gallagher of Wisconsin, and California’s Tom McClintock, each expressing concerns over Republicans’ use of impeachment for political purposes, evidently find greater value in clinging to the notion that the preservation of norms and procedures that have already been done away with will be rewarded.
Immigration is one of the public’s greatest concerns heading into the 2024 election. Given the ongoing invasion of violent multinational, fighting-aged males with no regard for the law; the elaborate non-profit patronage network that ships illegals across the country; and government sponsorship of migrants’ lifestyles while Americans continue to get squeezed by inflation, it makes a lot of sense.
But when an opportunity arrives to take a scalp and show voters they’re serious about addressing the border crisis, Republicans refuse to do so and allow Democrats to reclaim full control of the narrative.
By sabotaging their own efforts to impeach Mayorkas, Republicans will be forced to take further ownership of the border crisis. Impeaching Mayorkas would show voters they were serious about addressing the lawlessness at the southern border. But because they refused to impeach, the left has another cudgel to use against them when this should have been a unifying moment to hold the left to account.
The institutional bulwarks that caused these lawmakers to clutch their pearls haven’t mattered in years. If anything, their fecklessness likely ensures the further erosion of norms as people have yet another reason to doubt Republican competency and put Democrats back in control of Congress. But when was the last time Democrats — members of the party that actually does stuff — let the apparatuses of moderation get in the way of forcing their will?
“Democrats have already spun the issue. [Republicans] now own the migrant crisis,” Santos said, jesting that he “would have voted twice to impeach” if he could.
Unless the nature of Mayorkas’ impeachment articles somehow changes, thus mitigating the concerns of these members, or they’re somehow otherwise convinced to support the cause, it doesn’t matter that a second vote might occur next week. Even if Majority Leader Steve Scalise is present for a second vote, the numbers simply aren’t there. Republicans need more yeas than nays; a tie results in failure.
Had Republicans not expelled Santos, they would be able to overcome this issue, but they prioritized temporary accolades over meaningful results.
“Republicans are all talk,” Santos said, “The problem is that 70 percent of [Congress] is more focused on what dinner with what lobbyist they’re having than governing.” And he is absolutely correct.
The median Republican member is happy simply to dine with lobbyists and get a mention in the legacy press. They aren’t using the institutional and political mechanisms at their disposal to coerce behavior, effect change, or humble their enemies. They prioritize the former, assuming the latter will revoke their status as one of the swamp’s special people.
Just like abortion, health care, and spending, Republicans don’t want to actually deal with the border. They want to grandstand and fundraise off it and remain losers beautiful only to themselves.
Samuel Mangold-Lenett is a staff editor at The Federalist. His writing has been featured in the Daily Wire, Townhall, The American Spectator, and other outlets. He is a 2022 Claremont Institute Publius Fellow. Follow him on Twitter @smlenett.