Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell has issued a warning to his colleagues in the House, advising them that calls to impeach President Joe Biden aren’t good for the country.
“I said two years ago, when we had not one but two impeachments, that once we go down this path it incentivizes the other side to do the same thing,” he stated, according to The New York Times. “Impeachment ought to be rare. This is not good for the country.”
Calls for Biden’s impeachment have picked up steam following testimony from Internal Revenue Service (IRS) whistleblowers, and Hunter Biden associate Devon Archer alleging corruption and bribery involving the president and his son. (RELATED: ‘Removed From Office Immediately’: More Republicans Are Warming To Impeaching Joe Biden)
Prior to Bill Clinton’s impeachment in 1998, no American president had been impeached for 130 years, the outlet noted. Former President Donald Trump’s presidency doubled the total number of impeachments in the history of the country to two during his four-year term.
WASHINGTON, DC – JANUARY 13: An article of impeachment for incitement of insurrection against President Donald Trump sits on a table at the U.S. Capitol on January 13, 2021 in Washington, DC. The House of Representatives voted to impeach Trump a second time, after Vice President Mike Pence declined to use the 25th amendment to remove him from office after protestors breached the U.S. Capitol last week. (Photo by Stefani Reynolds/Getty Images)
In the last few years, calls for impeachment and censure, a Congressional penalty that falls just short of expulsion, have increased as political divisiveness has taken hold of the country in and out of the Capitol. The commonality with which such penalties are now threatened and exacted upon political opponents, has diminished the weight of the penalties themselves, some strategists have argued, according to the outlet.
“I think it further deteriorates everyone’s faith in the institution,” Steve Israel, Democratic strategist and former member of the House from New York, told The New York Times. “Everything becomes political theater.”
Israel continued to explain that during his time as a representative for New York, censure was seen as a “last resort” that needed to be “insulated from political whim.” (RELATED: CNN And MSNBC Says ‘Impeachment’ Over 200 Times In Just One Day)
Israel was joined in his views by Republican Texas Sen. John Cornyn, who argued that Congressional leaders need to work out “political differences and not use tools like impeachment to try to redress our grievances.”
“I don’t think it is a healthy sign for us to be resorting to the ultimate weapon,” Cornyn concluded. “But democracy is messy, and we are demonstrating that every day.”