On Wednesday, July 24, the US House of Representatives passed a resolution to “strongly condemn” the vice president for her performance as Joe Biden’s so-called border czar. Now, with the two articles of impeachment against her, Kamala Harris is building quite the collection of “strongly worded letters” from the House GOP. In today’s divisive political atmosphere, such resolutions and impeachments are just how you know she’s running for president. One might understandably wonder if Kamala even cares. More importantly, do the voters care?
Strongly Condemning the Vice President
The final vote was 220–196 to condemn Harris and the Biden administration's border security failure. Every Republican voted for it, which is all it takes for a majority party to push bills and resolutions through the lower chamber. Democrats, on the other hand, weren’t so united. Six – Maine’s Jared Golden, Yadira Caraveo of Colorado, Don Davis of North Carolina, Washington’s Marie Gluesenkamp Perez, Texan Henry Cuellar, and Mary Peltola of Alaska – joined the GOP in rebuking the VP.
So, what does it do? Nothing, really. After all the “whereas” clauses used to lay out the accusations, the House is only actually resolved to “strongly condemn” the vice president and the rest of the administration, “affirm” that Americans should have more competent elected officials, and “clearly and firmly state” that the border policies aren’t good and won’t be good for America if allowed to continue. That’s it; the resolution doesn’t initiate any action beyond declaring an opinion. Oh, Kamala Harris – and the rest of the world – will certainly know how House Republicans feel about her, but that’s all. As such, it probably doesn’t motivate Harris – or the world – to worry much about it.
Impeachment for Kamala
A day after the resolution was introduced, on Tuesday, July 23, Representative Andy Ogles (R-TN) filed two articles of impeachment against the vice president. In the first, he accuses her of “Willful refusal to uphold the immigration laws.” This is essentially the same accusation he made in last summer's articles of impeachment, though ultimately nothing came of that effort.
The second article is “breach of public trust” for hiding Biden’s mental condition. According to Ogles, “Kamala Devi Harris has knowingly misled the people of the United States and the Congress of the United States, principally to obfuscate the physical and cognitive well-being of the President of the United States, Joe Biden.”
While the articles of impeachment could pass the House, the likelihood of pulling enough Senate Democrats to get a 60-vote majority is virtually nonexistent. Theoretically, these articles are dangerous to a vice president aspiring to the big chair, but in practice, they’re about as symbolic as the resolution.
What’s Good for the Goose …
Representative Ogles has also released a statement calling for Kamala Harris – yes, the very vice president he hopes to impeach – to invoke the 25th Amendment and remove Biden from office before the election. Liberty Nation News Senior Political Analyst Tim Donner once suggested that the best thing the commander-in-chief could do for Harris would be to resign, making her the president before the election.
Invoking the 25th, however, seems like a bad idea from her perspective as a candidate. While she likely faces an uphill battle with the electorate for several reasons, going to war with the man who bowed out of the race to endorse her candidacy would be like trying to charge up that hill at a full sprint with her shoelaces tied together. To say the optics would be horrible is an understatement. But who knows, perhaps that’s why Ogles suggested it.
House Republicans aren't the only ones hoping to undermine the Harris campaign. As LNN’s Kelli Ballard recently reported, Donald Trump has filed a complaint with the Federal Election Commission regarding the transfer of Biden’s war chest over to the new presumptive nominee. “This is little more than a thinly veiled $91.5m excessive contribution from one presidential candidate to another, that is, from Joe Biden’s old campaign to Kamala Harris’ new campaign,” the complaint says.
It had widely been speculated before Biden’s withdrawal that, should the Democrats choose to replace him, Harris would be the obvious choice because her status as his running mate would make the transfer of all this money entirely legal. The Biden Campaign officially changed its name to the "Harris Campaign" on Sunday. As running mates, they shared the same entity as their joint campaign depository under federal election law. Team Trump, however, argues that, because the two have yet to go through the formal nomination process, they couldn’t share a committee. Some experts back both views, but given the way the law has been interpreted in the past and the fact that Biden and Harris were running as incumbents after already campaigning - and winning - together, the FEC seems likely to side with the vice president.
In the earlier campaigning and during their time in office, Biden bore the brunt of the attacks as the president and the headline name on the ticket. The VP no longer stands behind her president, however, which means she no longer enjoys the benefit of using him as a shield. Are there more attacks to come? Undoubtedly. A look at recent history and a little common sense show that both sides tend to do their best to discredit or disqualify the other party’s front-runner. And after the campaign that the left carried out against Trump before, during, and even after his presidency, this should come as no surprise. As the old saying goes, what’s good for the goose is good for the gander.
