Soon, All This Will Be Ours

By Miss Kubelik

Here's a succinct and helpful summary of why today's headline in The New York Times — "House Republicans Derail Effort to Impeach Hegseth" — is true and correct.

1). Yesterday's vote in the House of Representatives was a procedural vote, not an impeachment vote. There was never going to be a vote on Tuesday to actually impeach Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth — the House was going to decide what to do with the resolution of impeachment Rep. Thomas Massie introduced.

2). Republicans, who still control the chamber, moved to refer Massie's impeachment resolution to the House Judiciary Committee, where — their preference — it would surely languish in obscurity until January, when the Democrats take over. This motion passed, 211-204.

3). Yes, 11 Democrats did not vote. But neither did seven Republicans. Had all of these 18 House members been present and voting along party lines (a high likelihood), the GOP's hoped-for referral to the Judiciary Committee still would have passed, 218-215.

4). And yes, had only the 11 Democrats been present to vote against it, the referral to the Judiciary Committee would have failed, 211-215 — after which the Republicans no doubt would have exercised one of their other procedural options: tabling the resolution immediately. (Remember, they're still in charge.)

5). In January, Democrats will take control of the House and be able to do this the right way: conducting investigations, subpoenaing witnesses and records, gathering evidence, holding public hearings, and building a case for impeachment that will be more inclusive and carefully constructed than Rep. Massie's was. (Massie even stated that he was trying to spare Hegseth a "much more vicious" Democratic inquiry.)

6). Massie also said he hoped the pressure would force Benedict Donald to replace Hegseth immediately, instead of waiting for 2027, when a replacement would have to get through a Democratic Senate. 

So there you have it. Bad optics to have 11 Democrats be no-shows? Sure, for the Inside Baseball crowd. But was it parliamentary malpractice? No. We cats HISS.