President-elect Joe Biden, 78, tried to inject some rationality to the frenzy on Capitol Hill calling for 74-year-old President Donald Trump’s head only 12 days before inauguration. Biden insists he’s focused on putting his government together to hit the ground running Jan. 20, something 80-year-old House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) isn’t into while she lets the mob in Congress get out of control wasting more valuable time on impeaching Trump or demanding he be removed under the 25th Amendment, something totally inappropriate. Trump conceded yesterday saying he accepted his fate and would provide Biden with an orderly transfer of power. Biden has nothing good to say about Trump, only wants to keep the nation’s eye on beating back the raging Covid-19 pandemic, improving he economy and getting back to some orderly approach to U.S. foreign policy.
Whether admitted to or not about Trump, he was voted in to rock the boat in Washington, something he did very well. But as most elected officials found out over the last four years, they like the status quo, don’t like too many changes in domestic or foreign policy. Trump tried to shake things up and managed to alienate a lot of folks domestically and overseas but actually did some good things for the economy and certainly for Mideast peace. After the melee at the Capitol Jan. 6, Democrats and the media blamed Trump for the incident, despite knowing he didn’t ask his audience to break the law. Trump posted a video Jan. 7, deploring the lawlessness, telling his backers to cool down. But for some reason, Democrats and the media blame Trump for inciting the riot that disrupted Capitol Hill business for a few hours, before tallying the Electoral College vote for Biden.
Biden expressed nothing positive about Trump, agreeing with sentiments in Congress but not wanting to waste anymore time on impeachment or the 25th Amendment. “I’ve been saying for now, well, over a year, he’s not fit to serve,” Biden said. “He’s one of the most incompetent president in the history of the United States of America,” Biden said, bound to antagonize some 75 million Americans that voted for Trump. It’s tempting for Biden, like other Democrats, to beat their chest now that they’ve taken the White House, House and Senate, but voters have long memories. Biden said he wanted to be the president of all the people, including those that voted for Trump It’s not factually incorrect that Trump was the most “incompetent” president but it sounds good to the Democrat base that’s out for blood looking to take revenge on Trump until the bitter end.
Biden saying he won’t get behind Rep. Ilhan Omar’s (D-Minn.) impeachment push indicates, at the very least, that he’s got more important things on his plate. “If it were six months out, we should be doing everything to get him out of office. Impeaching him again, trying to evoke [means invoke] the 25th Amendment, whatever it took,” Biden said. Well Biden certainly didn’t call on impeaching Trump again or the 25th Amendment during the height of the 2020 campaign. Biden’s statements show he’s either placating his Democrat base or doesn’t really understand impeachment or the 25th Amendment. If the shoe were on the other foot, I’m sure Biden would resist calls for his impeachment. Using the 25th Amendment, ratified years after President John Kennedy’s assassination in 1967, was specifically designed for incapacitation or grave disability. Does Biden really want to talk about the 25th Amendment?
Memory impairment or Alzheimer’s disease would be more grounds for using the 25th Amendment, than saying you didn’t like Trump speeches or views on election fraud. When it comes to impeachment, Biden knows there must be some high-crime-and-misdemeanor to gain conviction in the U.S. Senate. All the talk now is part of the mass hysteria from the mob scene on Capitol Hill. No one talked about impeaching former President Barack Obama when he allowed American cities looted and burnt to the ground in the wake of some officer-involved shootings against black people. Biden should choose his words carefully about invoking the 25th Amendment, knowing he’s been identified of having memory impairments that could get worse over time. But when it comes to impeachment, it isn’t an arbitrary process of concocting crimes that don’t exist for political purposes.
Between now and the inauguration, Trump will finish out his term, then be quickly forgotten by most people, a kind of aberration on the presidency. For anyone from the celebrity or the businesses world, it’s going to be a long time before someone unqualified for president will get back to the White House. When Biden looks at Trump’s legacy, he shouldn’t make sweeping statements for his base but look at the record. Trump delivered on his promise for an improved border wall. He improved the U.S. economy by cutting taxes on U.S. companies, keeping more in the states and encouraging more to come. Were it not for Trump’s economy, Covid-19 might have plunged the nation into another Great Depression. Joining Democrats and media pile on for Trump isn’t befitting an incoming president. Keeping the focus on pressing national priorities is a better place for Biden’s energy than wasting it on Trump.
