Biden’s impeachment, Trump’s trials

Steve Brawner

There’s a philosophy that says, “Just because you can, doesn’t mean you should.” That would be the case with what’s been happening lately with two American presidents — Joe Biden and Donald Trump.

Biden is now the subject of an impeachment inquiry by the U.S. House of Representatives into whether or not he benefited from his son Hunter’s business dealings. The House approved the inquiry earlier this month on a strict party line vote, with 221 Republicans voting yes and 212 Democrats voting no. All four of Arkansas’ congressmen voted yes.

That does not mean Biden will be impeached, which itself is really just an accusation that would then move to the Senate for a trial. Instead, the vote formalized an investigative process. U.S. Rep. Rick Crawford likened it to a grand jury in comments made to the Arkansas Democrat-Gazette and said there was more than enough evidence to proceed. Rep. Steve Womack said the public is best served when truth is revealed. Rep. Bruce Westerman said there’s probably some fire underneath the smoke.

I don’t know any more about Hunter Biden than you do. We all know he’s a troubled individual who may end up in jail, and maybe rightfully so. We also know Joe and Hunter are very close. It’s obvious Hunter has financially benefited from his business relationships.

What’s not known — and certainly isn’t proven — is whether President Biden received any of those benefits. If he did, that would be a problem.

The obvious concern is that any impeachment is a highly divisive process that shouldn’t be partisan and shouldn’t be taken lightly. If it’s either, it can become too easy and too common.

For two centuries, only one President was impeached — President Andrew Johnson in 1868 shortly after the Civil War. The House of Representatives did initiate a formal inquiry into impeaching President Richard Nixon in 1973, but he resigned before he could be impeached and then convicted.

It would be another 25 years before President Bill Clinton was impeached in 1998. It was followed by the first impeachment of Trump 21 years later in 2019 and the second two years later. Those impeachments came on almost entirely or mostly party- line votes, with the last occurring days before Trump was to leave office.

All of this is occurring as part of a process that is supposed to be used only for “high crimes and misdemeanors” under the Constitution. The Founding Fathers wisely made it possible but very hard to impeach a president. They apparently believed that just because you can, doesn’t mean you should.

Which brings us to Trump. It’s pretty obvious that he, or at least his organization, told lenders his income was one amount while telling the IRS it was a lot less. You can’t do that. Meanwhile, he clearly took sensitive classified documents that he refused to return. As for the incitement of insurrection charge — that’s a little grayer.

You can make a case that Trump should be charged for some of the things he did. Prosecutors and New York’s attorney general are certainly trying.

But should he be? At the moment, it looks as if the Republican frontrunner in next year’s election will face multiple legal battles while winning party primaries in state after state. In fact, the prosecution may be helping him win by making him a victim. What happens if he gets the nomination? What if he wins the election?

No president or ex-president should be able to abuse the office or commit an obvious crime and get away with it. No man is above the law.

On the other hand, let’s not tear the country apart over gray areas or close calls. With all these presidential impeachments and prosecutions, we’re dancing closer to a line that authoritarian countries have long since crossed — where leaders leave office and go to jail, or they stay in office in part so they can stay alive.

The steps we’re taking will have long-term ramifications beyond today’s partisan battles. Prosecute Trump? Impeach Biden? How about impeach Biden and then prosecute him? Maybe we can find something. Then what about the next president? And the one after that?

How much farther down this path do we want to go? Just because you can do something doesn’t mean you should.

••• Steve Brawner is a syndicated columnist published in 15 outlets in Arkansas. Email him at brawnersteve@mac.com. Follow him on Twitter at @stevebrawner.