Impeachment Now! Impeachment Forever!

The idea of impeaching a president fell out of favor after President Andrew Johnson — who had the misfortune of not hating the defeated South enough — was saved from being kicked out of office for no good reason when Republicans in the Senate fell a vote short of showing him the door.

As 19th-century politicians go, Johnson was no cleaner and no dirtier than any of the rest of them except perhaps the Tammany Hall machine in New York that gave “machine politics” a bad name. The point being, it’s almost like both parties looked at what they had done to Johnson and called a truce. After that, the impeachment bar was raised substantially, and while there were occasional calls from reform groups and individuals for a president to be impeached, from 1866 to 1998, no president was called on the carpet and threatened with being booted from office.

That’s changing today. Twice-impeached Donald Trump — both times for far less cause than Johnson and at least in the case of the first impeachment, for a bogus reason — had Republicans itching to impeach Joe Biden.

Biden’s “high crime” is textbook Constitutional law: bribery and obstruction. And Republicans are going to get the process rolling soon. But some Republicans want to add all this political stuff like incompetence at the border, and the “weaponization” of the Justice Department. Why complicate what should be a simple case of Biden taking money for favors?

Finding evidentiary proof on Biden — even on his bribery charge — has been a challenge, meaning that unless Republicans can find a smoking gun, all Democrats, and even some Republicans in the Senate and the House will refuse to indict and convict Biden of anything unless there’s ironclad, slam-dunk proof of the president’s guilt.

That’s the way it should be. Convicting a president and kicking him out of office would be the most disruptive event in American history. Just because Democrats allowed their hatred of Donald Trump to cloud their judgment, why should Republicans do the same with Biden?

Many Republicans believe the 2020 election was stolen and that kicking Biden out of office would be some kind of “justice” even if no impeachable offense can be proved. That way lies on a path to dictatorship. Like it or not, Joe Biden’s election was certified by the House and the 50 states. The Constitutional norms and procedures were followed and ratified. Drumming up an unproven impeachment proceeding of dubious merit is almost as damaging as getting rid of a president for a bogus reason.

If you’re angry at the result of the 2020 election, the remedy is to defeat Biden in 2024. Or find an impeachment charge that will not only stick but also convince at least some Democrats that Biden should be convicted and removed from office.

Otherwise, it’s a useless exercise in partisan hackery designed to excite the Republican base and do little else.