Rioters gather at the US Capitol on January 6, 2021
House Republicans generally have no interest in pushing anything with the majority support of the American people, and their lengthy list of pet investigations is no exception to the rule.
After Republicans reclaimed the lower chamber last year, the incoming majority promised a series of probes to supposedly combat wokeness (i.e., own the libs) and unmask the "Biden Crime Family.” Failures at the U.S.-Mexico border, the origins of COVID-19, and "woke" school board policies were all high on the list.
But House Republicans have ended up devoting the bulk of their energy to the seediest and most incendiary of probes: whether to impeach Joe Biden or his Department of Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas, and digging into Hunter Biden's finances.
As new Morning Consult polling shows about support for the probes: Biden's impeachment rests at just 30 percent of voters (55 percent among Republicans, but just 24 percent among independents), Mayorkas' impeachment is at 22 percent (34 percent among Republicans and just 18 percent among independents), and Hunter Biden's finances rests at 27 percent (46 percent among Republicans and just 24 percent among independents). In other words, none of the current GOP probes dominating the headlines garner even a third of support from the general public.
The issue that does have more widespread support, investigating fentanyl trafficking (58 percent), remains ongoing but has been overshadowed by House Republicans' infighting and their fixation on claiming a scalp before finding any real evidence to support it.
Naturally, House Republicans' investigative efforts have also been plagued by buffoonish incompetence:
- They've lost their informant.
- They've got lots of witnesses to prove that Biden did crimes, but none of them are available.
- They "believe" Biden did crimes, they just don't have the evidence yet.
Oh, what the heck, let's just file an impeachment resolution and we'll figure out the criming part later.
That is the problem in a nutshell: House Republicans can't really put their finger on anything specific, but their base demands instant gratification, so MAGA misfits such as Rep. Lauren Boebert of Colorado are taking action into their own hands.
In March, a Navigator Research poll found that 50 percent of registered voters (including a 47 percent plurality of independents) believed Republicans in Congress would "overreach" with their various investigations into Biden and other Democrats. That 50 percent was a 3-point bump from when the outlet originally asked the question in January 2023.
To date, House Republicans have more than lived up to those voters’ estimations and done nothing to convince them otherwise. At some point, Navigator will re-ask the question and it will be interesting to see if the needle has moved.
Reprinted with permission from Daily Kos.
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