Now that Matt Gaetz has brought down Kevin McCarthy, there’s a bunch of Republicans in Congress that want to bring down Matt Gaetz, by expelling him. I’m sure Bill Palmer over at the Palmer Report is likely right when he says that “[i]t’s a given that all House Democrats would vote yes” for such an expulsion resolution.
But I think the Democrats should think about it.
The plan is to have “the House Ethics Committee issue a damning report about his underage sex trafficking scandal and using that as the basis for the expulsion.” Let’s stipulate that he is likely guilty of those things. Let’s also stipulate that if it were any other Republican the Republicans would not care a whit that one of their number was guilt of that or any other crime, as they’ve more than amply proven by their embrace of a certain very stable genius who engaged in the most treasonous crime spree since the Civil War.
Matt Gaetz is doing the Democrats favor by exposing how dysfunctional and extreme the Republican Party has become. If he stays in Congress he will continue to do so and he will cause even more Republican infighting (See here, for example). In fact, if he survives an expulsion vote, he will likely become even more extreme, and he will more and more become the public face of the Republican Party, which can only help to elect more Democrats.
If the Democrats were to oppose the expulsion, they could do so on the principled ground that it is totally unfair to expel a man for criminal behavior that has not been proven in a court of law, especially since, as noted above, Republicans have taken the position overall that it is perfectly okay for Republicans to engage in criminal behavior. It would be a denial of equal protection for Gaetz to be singled out for punishment, when the general rule is that it’s okay if you’re a Republican. They’d have even more ammunition if the Republicans actually elect Jim Jordan to the speakership, given his history of tolerating sexual abuse.
Just a thought. I’m not sure I agree with myself on this one, but I do think the Democrats should think it through and try to take whatever course gives them the maximum political advantage.
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