Attempt to impeach Biden the latest example of crazy U.S. politics

Editor's note: Anthony Moretti, a special commentator on current affairs for CGTN, is an associate professor at the Department of Communication and Organizational Leadership at Robert Morris University. The article reflects the author's opinions and not necessarily those of CGTN.

American politics resembles a circus at the end of 2023. The latest example: House Republicans want to investigate and potentially impeach the president of the United States Joe Biden because they claim that he and his family have become wealthy from international business deals, and yet they have released zero evidence to support their case. The president's son Hunter Biden also is under legal scrutiny relating to tax and gun-related offenses, so Republicans are eager to link father with son. 

One news organization has suggested the investigation (and potential for impeachment) is little more than "showmanship." Yet showmanship and its related drama have come to define American politics for over three decades.

Here is an abbreviated list of some of the more eye-opening and most recent examples:

– Too many Republicans continue to publicly discuss an idea that lacks credibility: Conspiratorial forces worked together to deny former U.S. President Donald Trump's re-election in 2020;

– Republicans and Democrats continue to pass legislation aimed at crippling China, and they do so either not knowing or not caring that the plans are bloated and ill-timed;

– Political outcasts, such as former Wyoming Representative Liz Cheney, who benefited from the Republican Party's shift to the right or left, now stir up controversies in order to generate media attention;

– Republicans in the House of Representatives did the unthinkable a few weeks ago when they ousted one of their own, Kevin McCarthy, as Speaker of the House in part because he thought a government shutdown was not good for the country;

– Political figures across the spectrum maintain that asylum seekers ought to be caged or placed in awful tent communities if they somehow make it across the U.S.-Mexico border; 

– and Republicans are investigating and might seek to impeach President Biden largely because Democrats twice impeached Donald Trump when he was president.

What in the world is going on inside the country that consistently boasts it is the "beacon of democracy?" And how do these and other examples align with American exceptionalism? Attempting to answer these questions in just a few paragraphs might seem foolish, but here we go.

Let's begin with the election of Newt Gingrich as Speaker of the House in 1995. The philosophy of the Republican from Georgia? Define Democrats as evil and cooperation with them as weakness. As his strength and his arrogance grew, centrists in both parties were removed one by one; either they lost an election battle or they retired, simply unwilling to fight with the equivalent of brass knuckles for the ideas they supported. This corrosive notion that the opposition is morally wrong and ought to be, in effect, excommunicated is now displayed in Washington and in state governments all across the country. 

Next, the growing success of  U.S. "news" agencies that advance opinion over fact and ideological purity over common sense ensures that the American public can turn to the "news" and hear only the spin that supports their thinking. The viewing audiences for these cable networks (or the readership for print and web-based publications) are relatively small; however, they are made up of true believers, so to speak, and they demand Republicans support only conservative ideas or Democrats support only liberal ideas. Lost in all of this is the nuance needed to make the government run well.

The hotly contested 2000 presidential election, which saw George W. Bush defeat Al Gore (and likely legitimately), birthed the idea on the left that the justice system was in the hands of the right. The left's anger reached maybe its highest levels while Trump was president because they argued he nominated to the Supreme Court judges otherwise weak on legal history but strong on banning abortions. When the Supreme Court overturned Roe v. Wade in the summer of 2022, the culture wars – a feature of American politics for decades – reached a fever pitch. Logical conversations about abortion were gone; Americans had to pick one side or the other.

Other examples – racism and economic inequality among them – also are viewed through a simplistic lens in which history, law and culture are ignored in favor of generating headlines, writing controversial books and securing guest appearances on talk shows. Decorum, treating your friends and your opponents with grace and decency, becomes the equivalent of yesterday's newspaper: outdated and unimportant. Playing to the television cameras and favorable audiences is required; proving you are part of the flock is mandatory. 

The U.S. is stuck in a win-at-all-costs philosophy in which the victors are not the entire country but only political allies.

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