Joe Xiden is a failed president, and his handling of the Afghanistan debacle is grounds for impeachment. Indeed, if he were a prime minister in a parliamentary democracy, he would have either resigned or have lost a vote of no-confidence by now.
But the United States isn’t a parliamentary democracy. We’re a federal republic with separate legislative and executive branches. Xiden can’t just be sent to the back benches while his party maintains its majority in the legislature. If Xiden is deposed, Kamala Harris will leave her role in the Senate to become President. That will leave the Senate split 50/50, giving the Republicans an effective veto on her nomination of the new VP. They can leave the post vacant, ending the Democrats’ ability to break ties. If Harris replaces Xiden, their legislative agenda is dead. That doesn’t mean that some of it won’t slip through, but the overreach used to push it through will not sit well with most voters.
The various Inner Party factions will spend the next weeks and months in damage control mode. There will be a lot of infighting, and the collateral damage to America may be severe. But I expect they will so weaken themselves that 2022 will not be a good year for the Left.
Stay tuned.
Considering Romney et al, I’d be more inclined to say that Republicans have a “theoretical” veto rather than “effective” one.
Sadly, I can be convinced that Romney Collins & Murkowski could be persuaded a VP is necessary “for the good of the Republic,” but a unified GOP in a 50-50 Senate would be a terrific position for Cocaine Mitch.
All three would be better off with a 50/50 Senate where they could ‘sell’ their vote over and over instead of just selling it once for a VP.
And it’s not at all obvious to me that the Dems could agree on a new VP. For lots of reasons, including that would immediately make them a challenger to Kamala.
Also, the 50/50 would likely only last until the 2024 elections. Do they REALLY want to piss of the GOP that much?
No, we’ll stagger on until the obvious forces the issue.