Dem
52
Ties
2
GOP
46
Well, that didn't go as we expected.
When we wrote about Rep. Al Green's (D-TX) last hurrah—his eighth attempt at impeachment—we thought it would be an embarrassment to House Democrats, and that they would try to keep their hands clean by voting "present" in large numbers. In fact, 147 Democrats supported impeachment, while just 46 voted "present." That's almost exactly the same number of "present" votes as with Green's last impeachment attempt (December of last year). More importantly, from the viewpoint of Democratic leadership, the stunt is getting very little attention. It will probably be forgotten by the weekend.
At least part of the reason that the impeachment is quickly becoming old news, and less likely to do any damage to the blue team, is that yesterday, a retiring Republican member of Congress unveiled his own surprise impeachment motion. Like Green, Rep. Thomas Massie (R-KY) was primaried earlier this year. And like Green, Massie wants to make a statement on his way out the door. And so, he surprised his colleagues by moving to impeach Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth for "high crimes and misdemeanors" related to the Iran War. Massie kept his plans entirely under wraps because, as he quite correctly points out, the last time he tried to do something that would be bad for the Republican brand (demand the release of the Epstein files), Speaker Mike Johnson (R-LA) promptly shut the House down for several weeks.
Hegseth is certainly worthy of being impeached and convicted. It won't happen, of course, but it would not be an injustice if it did. The Democrats have no particular reason to be coy when it's a Republican motion they are voting on. And most Democrats really dislike Hegseth and his disastrous war. So, our guess is that nearly all Democrats, plus Massie, will vote to impeach. That's not enough to send the matter to the Senate, but it is enough to push the Green stunt out of the news. Was part of Massie's motivation here, besides making a statement, to do the blue team a solid? He hates Trump and Johnson so much, it's not outside the realm of possibility. (Z)