The Personal Website of Mark W. Dawson

The Case for the Impeachment of President Biden

Impeachment, conviction, and removal from office of any executive official, whether it be President, Vice President, or any Senate-confirmed appointee, is a very serious matter and is not to be done lightly. This is why I opposed the two Impeachments of President Trump, and I believe that it was wrongly done in the impeachment of President Clinton, as I have written in my Article, “Impeachable Offenses”.

The question that I now have is if President Biden has committed impeachable offenses. In Article II Section 4 of the Constitution, it states that:

The President, Vice President and all civil Officers of the United States, shall be removed from Office on Impeachment for, and Conviction of, Treason, Bribery, or other high Crimes and Misdemeanors.

Some High Crimes and Misdemeanors are clearly defined and recognizable, and others require a reasonable interpretation to define. The High Crimes and Misdemeanors clause is open to interpretation as to the meaning of this term. It covers allegations that are peculiar to officials, such as perjury of oath, abuse of authority, bribery, intimidation, misuse of assets, failure to supervise, dereliction of duty, conduct unbecoming, and refusal to obey a lawful order. Offenses by officials also include ordinary crimes, but perhaps with different standards of proof and punishment than for non-officials, on the grounds that more is expected of officials by their oaths of office. Some High Crimes and Misdemeanors are difficult to define explicitly, such as the terms perjury of oath, abuse of authority, dereliction of duty, and conduct unbecoming. The question is, then, by what standard should we utilize for determining these undefined High Crimes and Misdemeanors? In the case of a President and Vice President, I would suggest that the standard to be utilized is in the Constitution under Article II Section 1 of the Oath of Office the President takes, which states:

Before he enter on the Execution of his Office, he shall take the following Oath or Affirmation:--"I do solemnly swear (or affirm) that I will faithfully execute the Office of President of the United States, and will to the best of my Ability, preserve, protect and defend the Constitution of the United States."

In addition, the Constitution also states in Article II Section 3 that the President:

“. . .  shall take Care that the Laws be faithfully executed,”.

The difficulty is in determining if any President has committed impeachable offenses under the undefined high Crimes and Misdemeanors terms. It is my firm belief that if the President does not “preserve, protect and defend the Constitution of the United States" and “take Care that the Laws be faithfully executed”, then he has committed impeachable offenses. I also believe that if any executive official perverts the Constitution or fails to obey or enforce the laws, it is a High Crime and Misdemeanor that is subject to impeachment. I am aware that many legal and Constitutional scholars disagree with me, as they believe that a more legally stout definition of high Crimes and Misdemeanors is needed for impeachment, as I have discussed in my aforementioned article on Impeachable Offenses.

Many Presidents in our history have often stretched the bounds of their Constitutional duties, responsibilities, and authorities that could be inappropriate to their Constitutional limits of the Presidency. In some cases, the Supreme Court has declared their actions unconstitutional; in other cases, Congress has taken actions that limit a Presidents actions, and in many cases, it has been ignored and left to the next election voters’ discretion to determine the appropriateness of their actions. However, we should remember an ancient form of Chinese torture known as “Death by a thousand cuts” that results in lingering pains before the release of death. The continuing stretching of the bounds of Presidential duties, responsibilities, and authorities may lead to Constitutional distress and perhaps the effective end to the Constitutional Separation of Powers.

First-term President's actions are often ameliorated by political considerations, as they must face the voters in the next election to be reelected, while a second-term President does not have this concern. In both the first and second terms, a President also needs to consider the political consequences of their actions on the electoral repercussions to their party candidates, which also has an ameliorating effect on their actions.

There is also the question of the repercussions of Executive Officers committing High Crimes and Misdemeanors. In many cases, these repercussions are of minor significance that can be redressed in a court of law and/or the removal of the Executive Officer who committed these infractions. In other cases, it may take a political backlash to correct these actions that often reverberate throughout the body politic. However, in some rare cases, it may take an impeachment and removal from office to correct the High Crimes and Misdemeanors. This is especially true for a President or Vice President, as there are no other definitive actions that can be taken against them if they commit impeachable offenses.

I believe that the weaponization of the Justice Department and the FBI, along with the IRS and Department of Homeland security, as well as the Military and Intelligence services, to persecute and prosecute his political opponents are sufficient impeachable offenses. President Biden’s justification for preventing an insurrection appears to be based on the definition of an insurrection as any person who would actively oppose his policy and political agendas. In the remarks By President Biden on ‘The Continued Battle for The Soul of the Nation’ on September 01, 2022, his demonization of his opponents has reached a dangerous level, as I have examined in my Article, “The Soul of the Nation”. His and his administration's words and deeds demonstrate that they are actively trying to suppress Constitutional Free Speech by the harassment and intimidation of their political opponents in pursuing persecution and prosecution of those who they perceive are their active political opponents. His non-prosecution of his political allies and supporters has established a two-tiered justice system in America, which is anathema to our "American Ideals and Ideas" and antithetic to "Freedoms, Liberties, Equalities, and Equal Justice for All". In doing so, he is corrupting the meaning and intent of several parts of the Constitution as well as the Bill of Rights, and as such, he is violating his Oath of Office to “preserve, protect and defend the Constitution of the United States.” This, in of itself, is an impeachable offense.

President Biden and his Administration have also failed to secure our borders by not enforcing or ignoring our Immigration Laws. His rationale that we need new, changed, or better Immigration Laws does not pass Constitutional muster, as he has a duty and responsibility to ensure that our current Immigration Laws are “faithfully executed”. If he believes that Immigration Laws need to be updated, then his Constitutional responsibility is to work with Congress to pass new Immigration Laws. He does not have the option to not enforce nor ignore any law with which he does not agree. In doing so, he has negated the separation of powers in which Congress creates the laws, and the President must enforce the laws that Congress passes. By not enforcing or ignoring our immigration laws, he has also brought forth much distress, affliction, danger, and hardship upon America. As such, his failure to enforce our Immigration Laws is a Constitutional corruption that does not “preserve, protect and defend the Constitution” and is a dereliction of duty for not faithfully executing the law, all of which is an impeachable offense.

The recent disclosures that President Biden’s administration has been working with "Social Media" and the "Mainstream Media" to suppress stories that they believe are ‘disinformation’ or ‘misinformation’ is an assault on the Free Speech Rights of all Americans. The Department of Homeland Security also announced that it had created a "Disinformation Governance Board" to combat misinformation ahead of the 2022 midterms, as I Chirped on, "04/30/22 Ministry of Truth and Propaganda". Thankfully, this board was disbanded, but recent reporting has revealed that the practices of this board have not ended but have been simply diffused amongst various Executive departments and agencies. All such practices by anyone in government are an assault against the Free Speech Rights of all Americans, and it is an impeachable offense as it is government sanctioned violation of the Constitutional 1st Amendment Rights of Americans.

All politicians spin news and circumstances so as to reflect positively on themselves or their political agenda and policies. Such has it always been, such as it is, and such it shall always be. Spin is to be expected of politicians, but outright lying is not acceptable as it does harm to the body politic. Lying is often a strong word to use, as sometimes they are just mistakes or confusion. However, the sheer number and scope of the Biden Administration's lies demonstrate that they are not mistakes nor confusion but deliberate attempts to mislead the American public. We have seen this congenital lying by President Biden and members of his administration, from the crisis at our southern border to the fall of Afghanistan, to the truth of the threats of Russia, China, and Terrorism, to the Coronavirus Pandemic science, origination, and responses, to the increase of crime in our streets, to their comments on voting reform, to illegal immigration impacts, to the state of our economy, and to a host of other issues we have seen an unending stream of lies. These lies go beyond the normal  "Obfuscation, Smoke, and Mirrors", "Torturous and Convoluted Reasoning", or "Euphemisms, Doublespeak, and Disingenuousness" of politicians, as they are outright lying. Some members of his administration are outright contradicting other members, as well as the President himself, and sometimes within hours of the lying by President Biden.

This lying does serious harm to the body politic, as it further polarizes Americans and sows the seeds of distrust in government. It has also harmed our foreign relationships and our position of leadership in the free world. Lying is not an impeachable offense, and it is usually countervailed by truth. However, when Social Media and Mainstream Media are in collusion with the Biden Administration to suppress the truth, then truth cannot countervail the lies. To govern and establish and implement laws, rules, and regulations based upon lies can do nothing but damage America. Consequently, President Biden should not be impeached for lying, but if convicted by the Senate, his lying should add additional weight to the argument that he needs to be removed from office for the welfare of America.

In evaluating the wisdom of impeachment, you must balance the harm to the functioning of the government and the balance of powers between Congress and the Presidency as a result of an impeachment process, as well as the harm done to the Constitution and America as a result of the Unconstitutional governance by a President. In doing so, you must also keep in mind that “The Constitution is not a suicide pact” when you make a judgment to proceed or not to proceed with an impeachment process. Often you must make a Sophie’s choice of the lesser of two evils when faced with this dilemma. I believe that President Biden is deserving of impeachment, conviction, and removal from office as, on balance, and in both the short and long term, the harm he has done to the Constitution and America is far greater than the harm that may result from his impeachment. There may be a long-term benefit to impeachment, under these circumstances, in that a President will be more cautious and circumspect in their Presidential actions and inactions to assure they are within Constitution boundaries, and we may rebalance or restore the Separation of Powers between the three branches of government. There is also the practical side to removing President Biden, as if he is allowed to continue in office and govern in the manner he is doing so, the damage to America may be so great that it will not be rectifiable, and future Presidents will utilize his precedence to govern America.

Consequently, it is my fervent hope that if the Republicans regain control of the House of Representatives in the 2022 elections, they begin impeachment hearings based upon the above criteria and pass Articles of Impeachment against President Biden. It is also my fervent hope that the Senate will seriously consider these Articles of Impeachment on what is in the best interest of preserving our Constitution and America and that they will convict and remove President Biden from office for the good of America.