I & I Editorial BoardAfter spending months harping on the nation’s affordability “crisis,” Democrats have recently let slip that their real goal, if they get a majority in Congress, will be to impeach as many Trump administration officials as time allows over the next two years.
They will market it as “holding the administration accountable,” but the goal is far more sinister – to purposefully cripple the administration, regardless of the danger it poses to the nation.
In the past few days, articles in the Atlantic and MS NOW – two eminently reliable mouthpieces of the Democratic Party – said the party is considering a raft of impeachments of Trump Cabinet officials, if not Donald Trump himself.
The latter, they point out, is politically difficult. No matter how much Trump haters would love to see him impeached for a third time, it almost certainly won’t lead to his conviction and removal, and could serve only to reenergize Republicans just before a presidential election. (Rep. Al Green, for one, doesn’t care, and has already introduced another impeachment resolution.)
But why not go after Cabinet officials? Among those already on the list are War Secretary Pete Hegseth (Republican Rep. Thomas Massie decided to help Democrats on his way out by filing articles of impeachment against Hegseth), Education Secretary Linda McMahon, and Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. The left has also been calling to impeach Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent for more than a year.
In other words, Democrats are going to target any Cabinet official who has been effectively defying the left’s policy agenda. And they intend to weaponize impeachment to settle policy differences.
The thinking is that, at the very least, these impeachments will effectively stop work at those agencies. Or they will lead to the departures of these officials. (Democrats point to the fact that the mere threat of impeachment – which would have gone nowhere in the Republican-controlled House – pushed Kristi Noem and Pam Bondi out of their roles.)
But if Democrats gain control of the House, which looks likely, they can – and likely will – proceed full bore to start a raft of impeachment proceedings.
“Some Democrats are open to the idea, as they figure out how to signal to their base that they’re resisting Trump while not inspiring a voter backlash,” is how MS NOW put it.
House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries says only that “We haven’t ruled anything out when it comes to all of the tools available to us to hold people accountable. And we haven’t ruled anything in.”
Only two Cabinet secretaries have been impeached in U.S. history. One was Secretary of War William Belknap in 1876 – after Democrats regained control of the House for the first time since the Civil War. The other was Secretary of Homeland Security Alejandro Mayorkas, who was (rightly) impeached by House Republicans in 2024 for dereliction of duty in leaving the border wide open while repeatedly lying to Congress that it was secure. Neither resulted in a conviction.
Sen. Peter Welch, a Vermont Democrat, is on record opposing using impeachments for Democrats to show how tough they are against Trump. “We should be focused on affordability, not impeachment,” he said.
But the pent-up desire among the radicals who control the Democratic Party to exact revenge on Trump and destroy his administration is so all-consuming that affordability will be the last thing on their minds.
— Written by the I&I Editorial Board
Support Independent Journalism
Issues & Insights was founded by seasoned journalists from the IBD Editorials page. Our mission is to provide timely, fact-based reporting and deeply informed analysis on the news of the day -- without fear or favor.
We’re doing this on a voluntary basis because we believe in a free press and because we aren't afraid to tell the truth, even if it means being targeted by the left.
We are 100% reader supported!!
If you like what you see, please feel free to donate.
And be sure to tell your friends!
Add comment