W.J. Astore

What goes around comes around as Americans suffer

Just saw a newsflash that Kevin McCarthy, the Republican House Speaker, is opening an impeachment inquiry into President Joe Biden, specifically involving alleged business dealings with his son, Hunter Biden.

From The Boston Globe:

McCarthy said the House Oversight Committee’s investigation so far has found a “culture of corruption” around the Biden family as Republicans probe the business dealings of Biden’s son, Hunter Biden, from before the Democratic president took office.

“These are allegations of abuse of power, obstruction and corruption, and they warrant further investigation by the House of Representatives,” McCarthy, R-Calif., said outside the speaker’s office at the Capitol. “That’s why today I am directing our House committee to open a formal impeachment inquiry into President Joe Biden.”

Naturally, the Democrats are saying this is politically motivated (of course it is), and that it suggests a false equivalency between Biden and former President Donald Trump. I’ll leave that to the voters to decide.

All I could think of when I heard this news is that what goes around comes around. A Democratic House impeached Trump twice. They suggested he was a Putin puppet. He’s been indicted four times with more than 100 charges since he left office. It was, perhaps, inevitable that Republicans would seek to reply in kind.

Hunter Biden’s business dealings are dodgy indeed; whether the “big guy” (Joe Biden) was involved in ways that were illegal and corrupt is unknown.

What depresses me is that Congress is fiddling while America burns. Congress should be working to help Americans who are suffering. Who are underpaid, overworked, maybe unhoused, perhaps drowning in debt, and who otherwise need support from “their” government. Instead, Republicans and Democrats are engaged in endless rounds of partisan bickering, using up most of the oxygen in the room. How long before Congress implodes from all this partisan posturing and pressure?

Of course, unlike the crew of the ill-fated Titanic probe, members of Congress will emerge just fine; after all, they make their own rules and laws. What about all those Americans who need help? Who need a Congress that actually cares about them? They will not be fine.

So, it’s more political circuses in Washington without any of the bread that the people need to survive. How much longer can America survive on these terms?