Nearly a decade ago, in the months leading up to the 2014 midterm elections, more than a few Republicans talked up the idea of impeaching Barack Obama. The incumbent Democratic president hadn’t done anything wrong. When pressed, GOP officials struggled to articulate why, exactly, they thought Obama deserved to be impeached, but many in the party were eager to pursue the priority anyway.
As regular readers may recall, the chatter grew loud enough that Democrats started fundraising on the issue — letting supporters know that Republicans were talking about the possibility of going after Obama — which proved to be a good idea when the Democratic base had a strong response.
It reached the point that GOP leaders had to start downplaying the talk — then-House Speaker John Boehner told reporters the impeachment idea was “a scam started by Democrats,” which was the opposite of the truth — not because they were sympathetic to Obama, but because leading Republican officials feared the effects of a Democratic backlash.
It was a straightforward calculus: The more voters on the left believed Republicans might actually try to impeach Obama, the more motivated Democratic voters might be to open their wallets and show up on Election Day.
In time, rank-and-file GOP members, reluctant to screw up the party’s broader 2014 strategy, got the message, and the issue quietly faded.
This came to mind reading CNBC’s report on a Republican impeachment push creating another fundraising boost for the party’s target.
Republicans’ impeachment efforts are paying off — for President Joe Biden. A fundraising email from Kamala Harris attacking House Republicans for voting this week to authorize a “ridiculous” impeachment inquiry has already become the vice president’s top-performing pitch of the entire re-election, a Biden campaign source told CNBC.
The unnamed source on the president’s campaign added that the financial boost is “a testament to the energy against this whole thing.”
If Republicans haven’t considered the possibility of a backlash, they haven’t thought this through.
There’s no denying the fact that the Democratic incumbent, nearly a full year before he’ll face voters, is not winning any popularity contests. A Pew Research Center poll released this week found Biden’s approval rating falling to a woeful 33% — in part because of waning support from his own party’s base.
But public support for congressional Republicans is even lower, and there’s broad public skepticism against the GOP’s impeachment push. It opens the door to unintended consequences: The more Republicans abuse their power and pursue a baseless and evidence-free impeachment crusade, the more they jolt the Democratic base and create a fresh target for the president to run against.
I’m reminded of an episode of “The West Wing” that aired in 2001. In the fictional story, there’s a burgeoning controversy surrounding the Democratic president, and White House press secretary C.J. Cregg concludes that there would be a political upside to a partisan crusade launched by rabid attack dogs. In comments to White House chief of staff Leo McGarry, Cregg says: “Leo, we need to be investigated by someone who wants to kill us just to watch us die. We need someone perceived by the American people to be irresponsible, untrustworthy, partisan, ambitious, and thirsty for the limelight. Am I crazy, or is this not a job for the U. S. House of Representatives?” It’s hard not to wonder whether someone on Biden’s team said something similar this week. This post updates our related earlier coverage.
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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