Sometimes it is easy to forget that the primary victim of the scandal that is causing President Trump’s impeachment is Joe Biden. Perhaps for this reason he might feel the need to keep himself at a distance. If he felt that way initially, however, he no longer is holding back.
“Donald Trump has violated his oath of office, betrayed this nation and committed impeachable acts,” Biden told a crowd of supporters in Rochester, N.H. “To preserve our Constitution, our democracy, our basic integrity, he should be impeached.”
“That’s not only because of what he’s done. The answer to whether he has committed acts sufficient toward impeachment is obvious,” he continued.
“We see it in Trump’s own words. We see it in the texts from State Department officials that have been made public. We see it in his pulling much of the United States government into his corrupt schemes, individuals within the government, his appointees,” Biden said. “We have to remember that impeachment isn’t only about what the president has done. It’s about the threat the president poses to the nation.”
I suspect Biden would have preferred to face Trump in a general election, man to man, rather than get distracted with talk about removing him from office. But, since Trump clearly has already begun cheating against Biden, there is really no good reason not to call him on it. With the power of the presidency, Trump is largely responsible for making sure we have a free and fair election in 2020, and since that it already impossible so long as he remains in office or a candidate, the debate might as well shift to where it matters most.
I always knew that Biden would be a frontrunner for the nomination if he ran but I’ve been ambivalent about his candidacy from the beginning. Now he finds himself in a highly unusual situation. The impeachment process is partially an effort to protect his honor and his fair shot at the presidency, but the left certainly hasn’t settled on him as their champion. There are so many ways that this whole affair both helps and hinders Biden that it is simply fascinating to watch regardless of where you stand ideologically or who you prefer for the presidency.