As House Republicans gradually tear each other apart, one target of the far-right’s ire stands out as unexpected. Rep. Ken Buck has spent much of his career as a prominent and consistent conservative, making him an unlikely foe for the conference’s most radical members.
And yet, the Colorado Republican is increasingly finding himself isolated on Capitol Hill. A variety of GOP insiders are working on recruiting a primary challenger to take on Buck, and members such as Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene want Buck to be removed from the House Judiciary Committee and the conference’s whip team.
The right-wing Georgian told CNN there is an “unbelievable” level of frustration with Buck within the conference, and CNN’s Melanie Zanona said the “knives are out” for the Coloradan.
The tensions have been building gradually over the course of the year — Buck, for example, took the criminal allegations against Donald Trump seriously when others in his party did not — but the congressman’s skepticism about an impeachment inquiry targeting President Joe Biden has pushed the animosity to new levels.
The intra-party conflict has effectively left Buck with a choice: He can back off his principles and stick to the partisan script, as plenty of congressional Republicans have done in recent years, or he can stick to his guns.
At least for now, Buck is taking the latter path.
Late last week, after CNN asked if he’d changed his mind about an impeachment inquiry after the latest House Republican conference meeting, Buck said he’d skipped the gathering. “I haven’t heard an accurate fact in conference in a long time,” he said.
A day later, The Washington Post published a striking op-ed written by the Colorado congressman, shredding his party’s case against the incumbent Democratic president.
Republicans in the House who are itching for an impeachment are relying on an imagined history. Their inquiry, formally announced by Speaker of the House Kevin McCarthy (R-Calif.) on Tuesday, rests heavily on a fictitious version of Shokin’s career, with the alleged investigation of Burisma at the center. It’s a neat story, and one that performs well in certain media circles. But impeachment is a serious matter and should have a foundation of rock-solid facts.
Note, the op-ed didn’t say the impeachment inquiry is premature; he effectively argued that it’s based on myths and lies. “These facts — like all facts — are stubborn things,” he wrote. To be sure, the opinion piece is not without flaw. Buck went on to argue that Trump’s first impeachment was based on “flimsy” evidence, and I think any fair assessment of the evidence from 2019 proves otherwise. But the bottom line remains the same: The House Republican is under enormous pressure to get in line and support a partisan crusade against Biden, regardless of merit, and Buck is nevertheless telling his party what it doesn’t want to hear. What kind of electoral consequences should he expect to face for his principled position? Watch this space.
Steve Benen is a producer for "The Rachel Maddow Show," the editor of MaddowBlog and an MS NOW political contributor. He's also the bestselling author of "Ministry of Truth: Democracy, Reality, and the Republicans' War on the Recent Past."
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