Constitutional Law, Media, Politics

Say It Ain’t So, Joe: The Failure of Biden To Denounce This Impeachment Is A Missed Presidential Opportunity

This week, President-elect Joe Biden made a highly commendable decision to nominate Judge Merrick Garland as the next United States Attorney General. Like many, I praised Garland as an outstanding choice and a move that advanced Biden’s earlier pledge to seek unity. That is why I was so disappointed in Biden refusing to take a position on the effort to impeach Donald Trump next week. As with his equally inexplicable refusal to take a stand on court packing, Biden’s silence on this clearly unsupportable “snap impeachment” was a missed opportunity to show real leadership when it matters most.  It is not popular to oppose this impeachment, but leadership often demands that presidents take unpopular but correct positions.

Biden stated on Friday that President Trump “isn’t fit to hold the job”  and said that he did not want Trump to attend the inauguration.  I have no problem with that statement. Indeed, Trump himself has said far worse about Biden and he has also stated that he does not want to attend the inauguration.  I also have no problem with calls for Trump’s resignation or a bipartisan statement of condemnation from Congress. However, critics want to push through an impeachment will little discussion or deliberation on highly dubious constitutional grounds.

When asked, Biden stated;

“I’m focused on the virus, the vaccine, and economic growth. What the Congress decides to do is for them to decide,” Biden answered when asked if he supported such moves. … We’re going to do our job and the Congress can decide how to proceed with theirs. That’s a decision for the Congress to make. I’m focused on my job.”

The defense of the Constitution is “his job” and this would gut both the process and the standard for impeachments. This was an opportunity to take a principled stand to unify the country by asking his party to stand down and not pursue a “snap impeachment.”  As I discuss in my column today, this impeachment not only threatens principles underlying impeachment but also free speech in our Constitution.

As with court packing, this is not the time for good people to stand silent even in the face of such unhinged anger. Indeed, Democrats may loathe the day that they embraced the concept of a “snap impeachment” — a contradiction in constitutional terms. Impeachments are designed for deliberative, not impulsive, acts.

Indeed, Biden’s reference to more pressing matters is preciously the point.  He should have asked Congress to focus on those issues and not an impeachment that will not succeed in removal but will succeed in undermining our constitutional system.

There could be evidence to support impeachment but it has to be found outside of this speech. That requires an inquiry.  Biden should oppose any “snap impeachment” to allow for hearings at a minimum.

This was the type of “Say It Ain’t So, Joe” moment that I was hoping for after the election.  Biden could have refused to go along with this plan or to remain silent in the face of a clearly improper use of the impeachment power.  He could still have condemned the speech and the President, as many have done. He could then have asked for his party not to do greater damage by rampaging through the Constitution to try to remove Trump in his final days. That was a presidential moment missed by the President-elect.

 

347 thoughts on “Say It Ain’t So, Joe: The Failure of Biden To Denounce This Impeachment Is A Missed Presidential Opportunity”

  1. BLOG TROLL NEEDS HIS OWN THREADS

    Since Wednesday’s siege on the capitol, our blog troll has been more active than ever; furiously fielding puppets to saturate these threads. It would seem he’s terrified that posts by liberals might be seen by random readers.

    For months the troll has been an absolute nuisance to this blog. His comments are like dog dirt soiling the sidewalk. And ‘now’ it’s like piles of dog dirt are revealed amid melting snow. One can speculate our troll is an invalid who essentially lives on this blog for lack of any other life. ..Or, God forbid, Turley actually ‘pays him’ to keep the blog Trump-friendly.

    1. This from a poster who can be found here from the early early morning to the early early light. Warning us of all the trolls who should give us all a fright. She sees spiders on the wall, dragons in the sky, keeps on the lights to stop the darkness of the night.

      1. The WeHo Bathhouses banned him because he could never take rejection well. Otherwise he would only troll noon to midnight

        💁🏽‍♂️

      2. Estovir, how come you can’t fight like a man??? You’re a f_ggoty coward who has to keep constantly changing names because he can’t possibly stand for a real debate.

        1. We all know Estovir is a very sick puppy. First he write that Catholic stuff. Then he goes on and on about toilet and grinders. In my town they would ride him out on a rail.

          1. And your town seems to be someplace east of the Urals judging by your use of English.

    2. An attempt at a nuanced way to say you are dog doo doo. A slight improvement to a comment made by a third grader to the same comment made by a sixth grader. A wit for us to hold in amazement.

  2. What America most needs right now is to recognize the essential role of the neutral referee imbued with power when conflict breaks out into intractable opposing factions. Without a powerful neutral figure to force constructive engagement, the two warring sides will be stuck in paranoid distrust of one another, holding onto fantasies of a dominance-submission outcome, while the reality is prolonged, unproductive stalemate — and loss of opportunity time. Disunity also ups the chances of being overtaken by outsiders.

    THE INDISPENSABLE POWERFUL REFEREE

    We know that all high-stakes, hi-charged conflicts between antagonists must be conducted under the control of a neutral referee.
    Examples are sporting events, and the adversaries brought together in a Court of Law. The referee must be more powerful than the antagonists — and have the final say on rules and their application. The referee promotes a constructive competition (in Court, to get at the truth), or at least a non-destructive one (athletic teams competing for victory without killing or maiming each other’s players).

    In product development teams, the Product Development Manager often plays the same role. In order to create a breakthrough product, the atmosphere must allow the freedom to think out-of-the-box, and this often leads to divergent, competing ideas. The Manager wants to engender passion behind novel ideas, but not to the degree of intemperate hostilities. S/he has the job of managing the atmospherics to support constructive conflict….to produce non-obvious inventiveness while holding the team together all the way to the finish line.

    Where should we insist on this role being reinstated in our Federal leadership?

    I propose that the 3 leadership Offices called out in Articles I and II be redefined as powerful non-partisan referee-managers. These are the President (chief executive), Vice President as Presiding Officer of the Senate, and Speaker of the House. These positions, as currently defined as partisan-chiefs, make them ineffective as neutral brokers. What’s needed in these roles is someone who can force adversaries into a room, and not let them leave until they’ve hammered out a solution to their conflict.

    On our side in this quest is the Constitution making no mention of political parties, and this no quarter for political parties to commandeer the Constitutional leadership position as a Party operative.

    But first things first, and that’s getting focussed on basic principles of managing conflict constructively, and the indispensable — the powerful referee-manager responsible for the productivity of the organization. That’s what we’re missing.

    1. pbinca says: “I propose that the 3 leadership Offices called out in Articles I and II be redefined as powerful non-partisan referee-managers.”

      When the Constitution was written it didn’t account for political parties (and yes I read your subsequent comment to that effect). Articles I and II are fine as they are. We just need people to act in the manner prescribed by the articles. The founders ideally wanted people of good character to occupy elected office and also in judiciary. But as we know that hasn’t happened.

      The President can still have a sit-down with the leadership in Congress to iron things out, but we have three separate branches of government for a reason. We need to quit looking at candidates and voting for them simply because the have a (D) or (R) behind their name. And said elected officials need to put the needs of their constituents above their party. The best place to start is Congress – fix that branch first.

      Congress could start acting like adults and propose a constitutional amendment for term limits. If it’s good enough for the President, it’s good enough for them. Next, rearrange the seating during full sessions. Instead of dividing the House and Senate by party affiliation, have them seated by states. I think it would reinforce the idea of “constituents first” if they all sat together. They could always caucus by party at other times. I think it would dilute the party leadership’s influence if all their fellow party members weren’t all seated together. It’s just a thought and I know there’s not a snowball’s chance in you-know-where of ever being adopted, but sometimes we need to think outside the box.

    2. Ha ha ha. About 35 years ago, Thos. Watson of IBM wanted a standing blue ribbon commission empaneled to determine ‘watershed issues of US-Soviet relations’. A wag noted that in his plan discussion of fishing rights would be left to the President and Congress.

      You cannot find any three men who are generally trusted. You might have been able to in 1955 (and Gen. Eisenhower might have had that kind of prestige), but not now. We’d benefit from a cultural shift wherein a bloc of voters elect to reject and abandon the pathological features of the current political order. Not sure when that’s ever happened. We’ve certainly had several downward slides.

  3. Remember, O Democrats, who are so badly overplaying your hand, that what goes around, comes around.

  4. The decision by Trump to foment violence constitutes treason and shoukd result in impeachment and prison. Trump is a criminal and you think he should be treated with kid gloves. Trump tries to over throw the government but you decide to criticize Biden. Wow, Professor, you must really like testifying for Republicans. I’m disgusted.

    I say impeach, indict and try. There is no mistaking what Trump and his enablers like Hawley and CRUZ, just to name a few, wanted to happen. Y

    1. “Enablers”? Why don’t you go ahead and call the two sitting senators (Hawley and Cruz) “Nazi propagandists ” as President-elect Biden just did?

      Keep up the healing, defusing, and unifying, Joey.

    2. Justice Holmes said: “The decision by Trump to foment violence…”

      That’s laughable. You Democrats are such drama queens.

          1. Cindy, I don’t earn enough money trolling for left wing outfits so a girls gotta do what a girls gotta do.
            Be a sweetie and let me borrow your hose, huh?

            1. I loaned my clothes and accessories to gays over 50 years ago, before anyone admitted they KNEW any gays. So, try to stay up with me, Crystal…… Not sure you can.

          2. And I have a close friend that is a Cher impersonator and he actually sings her songs. They may know each other.

            1. WeHo are you having a problem containing yourself.

              Cindy is a nice lady who knows who she is. You constantly have to check.

        4. Same here, yawn. By virtue of growing up in a place with a very large alternative population per capita, I have been friends with the entire LGBTQ crowd most of my life, and yes, that includes drag queens. Your hatred is a personal problem, not ours, Svelez. Perhaps I am mistaken, but i also get the feeling you may be too young to have any functional idea about how deeply counterculture existed and flourished before you were born. Yawn: A Reprisal. You are the poseur, not us.

    3. No, where were you when Kamala said the riots should continue. Ah crickets. To much to expect justice in your court Holmes.

      1. The leftists are all a bunch of hypocrites. Watch what happens when they turn on each other.

  5. Turley Still Defending Theoretic President

    During last year’s impeachment I frequently noted that Professor Turley seemed to be defending a ‘theoretic president’ and not the real Donald Trump. There was, in Turley’s columns, a certain disconnect. As though Donald Trump was just a timeless statesman from somewhere in history. Turley could have been writing about Warren G. Harding, for all we really knew.

    And now, after Trump incited angry mobs to invade the Capitol, Turley is still writing about some timeless statesman from history. One might think that Turley is based in Alaska with limited access to news. Nowhere in this column does Turley give any indication that he actually followed Wednesday’s events. Nor does Turley give any indication of being a law professor. Instead one could mistake Turley as a commenter with only rudimentary knowledge of what really happened Wednesday.

        1. John provides a lot of facts and a good interpretation of what is happening. You are posting like a maniac and generally say absolutely nothing.

          I’ll take the former. You are a half-wit and the wrong half.

  6. Low-bar Joe’s not president elect, he’s pretender elect – lowercase p, lowercase e. Scamjob in a suit.

  7. Story of Biden’s life. Missed opportunity. Even when the presidency was basically handed to him, he shows the continual tone-deafness and lack of leadership that has plagued him his whole life.

  8. Before inauguration Trump resigns, Pence issues a federal pardon. Both of them cock a snoot at the socialist party. The Comrades then formally rename the country to USSA and continue the vendetta. Whoops? No one but the left to yell for a nose wipe.

    Where is the $2000 Commies?

    1. Before inauguration Trump resigns, Pence chooses not to issue a federal pardon.

      1. My money is on tomorrow. He’s engaged in extortion, incitement and obstruction just in the last week. He gave the feds all they need to leverage him out ASAP.

    2. Michael Aarethun says: “Before inauguration Trump resigns, Pence issues a federal pardon.”

      Even if that occurs, I believe Trump is still under investigation by the state of New York.

  9. Why impeach baby trump with only 12 days left in his term?

    1) to get him away from causing more trouble as soon as possible.
    2) to end his career so he can never run for another public office (not that he could ever win anything for the rest of his life, and that also includes his daughter whom he lusts after from ever winning anything and his baby baby son eric from ever gaining public trust as an elected official (as if that was ever going to happen)).
    3) to show future baby trump dictators that this sort of action will not be tolerated.

    1. Thank you for your narrowness in thought. You are creating a martyr with around 60-70 million loyal supporters.

      1. Too bad 60-70 million is less than 80 million and that trump has never won a popular vote.

  10. Right on Mr. Turkey. But then Biden has never been anything but a political hack.

  12. Look, lets call a spade a spade. Trump is done and enablers like Turley are trying to pretend that they have been constructive critics – yeah? Where’s the columns Jonathan? – and that anyone should still listen to them. How much more wrong can you be?

    Trump fans here have been threatening “liberals” with the supposed unstoppable juggernaut of their “movement” and of Trump and are now facing irrelevancy or shame – or both. Pick the irrelevancy. Just pretend you were misled. You were, but of course you not only bought it hard, you resold it hard. We tried to tell you the guy was a despicable human being and worse President, and now history will record that forever.

  13. Perhaps Biden is wise enough to not air the Demo’s dirty laundry in public? Princess Nancy is a spoiled brat, accustomed to getting her way regardless of the eventual consequences. Why should she miss this opportunity to steal the limelight from the Demo’s chosen leader? This is NOT the usual Chuck & Nancy show, this is the Joe and Kamala show! I’m sure the boys in the backroom have taken her aside and explained that the next dozen days belong to Joe Biden, NOT to her and her vindictive rage towards Donald Trump. (?) Or perhaps her aim is to provoke another uprising during the festive moment that would make last Wednesday look like a church picnic ?

    1. Her job is to uphold the Constitution in a co-equal branch.

      Ethical people don’t let themselves be provoked into criminal behavior. Pelosi cannot provoke another uprising unless those people are looking for an excuse.

      1. Out of your own mouth. I guess that virtually every millennial/gen z-er and crusty old radical who were rioting this summer by your own definition were pond scum, but we knew that already. You aren’t impressing anyone. It is hysterical when anyone representing the anti-crowd invokes our founding documents or principles. Sure. you believe in the Constitution and rule of law. Uh-huh. Tell us another.

  14. According to ABC, this rally was organized by Woman For America. A permit for the rally submitted by “Women for America First” Executive Director Kylie Jane Kremer — the daughter of the group’s founder, former Tea Party activist Amy Kremer — was approved on January 4. The permit stated that the event would take place from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. with 30,000 attendees, according to documents obtained by ABC News.
    Trump’s participation wasn’t publicly announced until just days before the rally. Beyond the president himself promoting the rally weeks ahead of January 6, his campaign also used its large social media presence to boost the rally to millions of followers on Twitter and Facebook.

    A more than usual even handed article by ABC
    https://abcnews.go.com/US/trump-allies-helped-plan-promote-rally-led-capitol/story?id=75119209

  15. ” I’m focused on my job.””

    His job is to be President for the entire nation. Right now it would help to reduce the division in the nation without changing any policy. Impeachment is a direct attack on one person who will be a private citizen in a matter of days. Unfortunately it is also a meritless attack on 70+ million Americans counting just the Trump supporters, but one can add most of the the rest of the nation itself because the impeachment is meritless days before the end Presidency and runs counter to the rule of law.

    1. Trump is currently President. What is he doing to “help to reduce the division in the nation”? For that matter, what is he doing to facilitate vaccinating 2 million or more people per day, as needed to achieve herd immunity by next summer?

      He’ll be a private citizen soon, but right now he’s President and has the nuclear codes, and on Tuesday, he condemned his own VP when Pence put his oath to the Constitution ahead of personal fealty to Trump. The insurrectionists were chanting to hang Pence and put a noose up. Trump deserves to be removed from office.

  16. At least he didn’t have sex with an intern, right JT?

    That’s how we know trump is so star spangled awesome! No intern for him. He straight up paid off a porn star to spank him with a rolled up magazine right after his third wife gave birth! He did it the old fashioned way. And it happened *before* he was president!! So it was only a campaign finance violation!!!

    Glad you’re here to keep things in perspective and keep us rooted in reality, Jon.

    Elvis Bug

    1. The Biden Crime Family will have no power. The power will all come from his handlers. He doesn’t know what he’s doing; he’s long past that.

    2. Yea, gee, all the sitting President did was call an angry mob to the White House, charged them up and told them to march to the US Capitol and overturn the election in his favor which resulted in them marching to the Capitol, assaulting it, and beating a police officer to death with a fire extinguisher. I mean, …why would anyone wanna impeach him over that? I ,mean, they just BLUGEONED TO DEATH a POLICE OFFICER on the President’s word, …so why would anyone want to impeach him? Here, let me save you some trouble there Professor on your next articles. Every time Trump does something wrong, here is your response “yea but what about the dems and Antifa!!??!! ” – there. I just saved you a years worth of work.

  18. Ruth Ben-Ghiat – “Historian of coups and right-wing authoritarians here. If there are not severe consequences for every lawmaker & Trump govt official who backed this, every member of the Capitol Police who collaborated with them, this “strategy of disruption” will escalate in 2021″

      1. Granted, there have been many white privilege revolutions throughout history.

        Elvis Bug

  19. Ah yes, more of Turley’s signature double standards. At Wednesday’s rally, Trump vowed to end the political careers of each & every Republican who voted to certify Biden’s Electoral College victory. Tens of thousands of Trump supporters roared in approval. When his supporters stormed the Capitol building, Trump sent out an inflammatory tweet berating Pence for not having the courage to follow orders & refuse to allow the certified Electoral votes to be counted. At that very moment, Pence was being rushed to safety.

    Bill Barr called Trump’s actions on Wednesday “a betrayal of his office & supporters” & said Trump was responsible for “orchestrating a mob to pressure Congress.” Turley’s predictable reaction to all of this? JT says Biden “missed an opportunity to show real leadership when it matters most.”

    Does JT think it’s showing real leadership when Trump tried to pressure a Republican Secretary of State into “finding 11,780 more votes” to overturn Georgia’s certified results? Was it showing real leadership when Trump demanded Georgia’s Republican governor resign & called Kemp “an obstructionist who refuses to admit that we won Georgia?” Was it showing real leadership when Trump called the Supreme Court “totally incompetent & weak” for not overturning the election?

    Yep, JT, leadership often demands presidents take unpopular but correct positions.

  20. If setting up an attack on the capital – what else did Trump think was going to happen – in furtherance of an insurrection based on the big lie that the election was rigged is not grounds for impeachment, nothing is. Since Turley helped further that lie, of course he’s playing Trump defense again.

    The Congress has a duty to impeach and convict, no matter it’s practicality and/or political implications.. Sometimes principle must be upheld no matter what and this historic sedition by a US President is such a time.

    1. Using your rational the claims of Jill Stein and Hillary in 2016 were inciting sedition

        1. Stein filed one or two suits and while Hillary conceded the day after, made no efforts to overturn the election, she did criticize him, so that is the same as a coup.

          1. What coup? Using the US legal system and Constitutional rights is not a coup. Try actually reading the text of Trump’s speech to the crowd.. I don’t care about politicians critiquing each other. Hillary railing against Trump supporters is divisive and it has escalated. It will create blowback. What the Dems fail to understand it really is not about Trump, it was his economic policies and bringing back the Troops.

      2. bengal, I don’t remember Hillary claiming there was a conspiracy to rig the 2016 election and calling on an “army” to march on the capital to stop VP Biden from counting the EC votes, but I’m very interested in your allegation. I remember that Hillary conceded the election the day after occurred, called Trump to wish him well, and then showed up at the inauguration and I have proof all that happened. Do you have any proof?

        1. I don’t remember Hillary claiming there was a conspiracy to rig the 2016 election and calling on an “army” to march on the capital to stop VP Biden from counting the EC votes

          Instead, she claimed that Trump had illegally conspired with the Russian government to steal the election and used the media and bureaucracy to overturn the election. That’s a lo worse, largely because it was so much more effective.

          1. You must be high on something if you think Clinton used the media and bureaucracy to overturn the election. Even if Trump had been impeached, Pence would have become President, since Pence was elected in 2016 with Trump.

    2. China jo freakday , C’mon man…”set up an attack”. You often stretch reality to absurdity like this ?. BLM, Antifags murdered people , burned businesses , burned police stations , burned cities…mayhem at a great scale. Meanwhile your brother china joe stated “antifag is just an ideal”. That’s a real class act ..or maybe senility ?. See china joe’s incredible grifting with Ukrainian and chicom money… now that’s an attack directly at law ,order , morality. But your down with that grifting and now you indulge in krystallnacht desires…Nazi much there buddy ?.

      2. And now as many predicted they are going after those that permitted them to commit those acts.

    3. Lots of big words for the programmer of the socialist party but then by tomorrow their words will be meaningless as they have a new party truth of the day. Principles? There’s come from a manifesto.

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