Dispatch Live: McCarthy Launches Impeachment Inquiry

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Tune in tonight as Kevin hosts our weekly show. Steve and David will join to discuss why Speaker Kevin McCarthy is launching an impeachment inquiry against President Biden. They will be joined by Grayson to discuss the rise in violent rhetoric on the right following the Trump indictments: Are we getting civil war vibes? Plus: With winter coming, how much should we be worried about a COVID spike? Mary will join to put things in perspective.

Grab a drink, get your questions ready, and join us on Tuesday, 8 p.m. ET on YouTube for this week’s Dispatch Live.

Dispatch Live recordings are made available as a members-only podcast on select platforms. If you can’t make it for the live broadcast, see below for information on how to access the podcast. 

Q&A: We want to hear from you during the show. To ask questions of our panelists and interact with other members you can use the YouTube Live chat feature or simply comment on this post during the broadcast.

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  1. Mirabelle

    The Covid graph was very helpful.

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    This comment has been deleted

  3. Todd.S.Boyce

    The impeachment “inquiry” will fail and will ultimately help Biden and hurt Trump. It will help Biden more if he can convince his folks to participate and not call it a witch hunt—that won’t happen so Biden will leave points on the field.

    I haven’t seen anything that says Biden did anything impeachable in any event. I guess it is possible that Comer has been holding some evidence close to the vest, but not likely.

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    1. R. James

      "I haven’t seen anything that says Biden did anything impeachable in any event."

      Try opening your eyes.

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      1. Todd.S.Boyce

        I evaluate evidence for a living.

        Show me.

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  4. Frank Lee

    What we have learned from the Democrat's political strategy is to just play the narrative over and over on the news cycle to get the electorate all stirred up with dislike. So this is good as the media has been largely ignoring Quid Pro Joe's bad behavior. An impeachment proceeding will be too hard for the dishonest media to ignore.

    This is really an interesting move because there are Democrats that might see this as the way to get Joe Biden off the stage and replace him with Kamala Harris or Gavin Newsom (God help us). So if the House votes to impeach, the Senate might also join the party.

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      Charlie

      No real evidence of bad behavior on the part of Joe. The Republicans claimed to have four whistleblowers. One turned out to be a Chinese spy and an arms runner for Iran, another exonerated Biden when he spoke to the Republican Committee. The other two didn't exist at all.

      The dishoest media will ignore the lack of evidence. The honest media will show that there is nothing there.

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  5. R. James

    Is there any way this inquiry does not result in Biden getting impeached? Is there any way that the inquiry and subsequent impeachment does not hurt Biden's numbers with independent voters? I think the answer is no to both questions.

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    1. Lrdillon123

      I would say Yes / No.

      All it will take is about five Republicans from purple districts to vote AGAINST the motion to sink it. And if it DOES pass, I think Biden will actually GAIN public support based on the thought, "Well, he's not exactly a stellar president, but this doesn't look like 'high crimes or misdemeanors' to me.

      Also, what do they get if he IS impeached?" Kamala Harris would represent just about the worst-case scenario for MAGAites; a person of color PLUS being a woman. It reminds me of Dan Quayle being portrayed as "impeachment insurance."

      Mind you, none of the above represents my personal opinion regarding any of these people. In fact, history may look back on Dan Quayle as the Savior of the Republic based on his strongly urging Mike Pence to NOT invalidate the electoral college results.

      I think that American politics has entered a phase in which the first motion of any House convened with a majority of a different party than the sitting president will be to impeach the person - specifics to be announced later. All of this reminds me of the last few decades of the Roman Republic. Pretty scary...

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        Charlie

        Purple district Republicans will lose their seats for voting for impeachment. It will make McCarthy a one term Speaker. Pending redistrictings already are making it look like the Democrats will take over the House anyway.

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        1. R. James

          Purple district Republicans will lose their primary voting against impeachment. McCarthy is probably a one term speaker any way. His pathway to finishing this term is nonexistent if he refused to start the impeachment process.

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        2. Lrdillon123

          Charlie, I try to take the Middle Way, as the Buddha and any ancient Greek or Roman philosopher worth their salt would say, but I very sincerely hope that you are right.

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      2. R. James

        The polling on independents view of the Biden scandal seems to indicate that he will lose support amongst that group, especially if impeachment drags out into next year.

        I think it would be very difficult for Republicans in even purple districts to vote against impeachment in an election year. The would be asking to lose their seats.

        Impeachment without conviction would not require Kamala Insurance, even if it were a thing. The Republicans would rather run against Kamala. Head to head polling has her losing to Trump by 5 points. If Kamala was as great a candidate, Dems would be calling on Biden to step aside for her. No one has said that.

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        1. Nordic_man

          It will be one of those “I am only doing this because I think (some other political body) will save me from my obvious stupid rescission” see Trump impeachment 2

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  6. John

    In 2019 trump called the president of Ukraine. He told him to investigate Joe Biden, the expected candidate to run against him in 2020. President Zelenski said they had already looked into Joe Biden and any illegal actions in Ukraine. He said there were none. President trump called again (multiple times) and told Zelnsky that you only need to go on American television and announce an investigation. You don’t have to do it. I think this was to be CNN. Fortunately a house investigation exposed this and the interview with CNN never happened. Trump was impeached for using the office of the Presidency to influence an upcoming presidential election. Of course this is nothing compared to what was to come later from Trump. But it was serious and indicative of how Trump viewed the office he held. There was an after story. Trump used every power he had to punish those who testified against him and make their lives miserable.
    And now?? Joe Biden and his drug addicted son. An investigation is ok, do it. This is nothing compared to our recent history. What’s wrong with the Republican Party?
    Being a member of congress is no joke, but I’m apparently alone in that opinion

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    1. Lrdillon123

      John, if I read your email correctly, I sadly think you need to consider yourself a RINO - NOT a member of the CURRENT Republican Party. My conservative but honorable father, were he alive today, would also be thus labeled - which would have been "fighting words" to him.

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      1. John

        I’m a conservative. Do you know what that is ?

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        1. Richard Kennedy

          I think the point lrdillon is making is that in contemporary terms, almost none of us here are conservatives. That’s really the point of the term Remnant as Jonah has coined it. I’ve had to resort to referring to my self s a “pre-Trump conservative”. This certainly makes me a “rino”.

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          1. John

            Thank you. In NO way is Trump a conservative. He’s a radical extremist who doesn’t care about anything beyond himself. We all understand that. If we could be rid of him we might be able to return to a discussion of what is a conservative. I believe it’s much broader and more popular than a “Remnant”.

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    Everybody Digs Bill Evans

    Without even a majority in the Senate, this is going to go really far!

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    1. Richard Kennedy

      Has impeachment ever really amounted to anything?

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    2. Frank Lee

      You are assuming that Senator Feinstein does not keel over, and that Manchin votes with the pack.

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        Charlie

        It takes a 2/3 vote to remove Biden from office. And if Feinstein dies she gets replaced by a Democrat. McConnell is looking pretty bad these days and if he dies it isn't clear how he would be replaced. Manchin is irrelevant.

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        1. R. James

          It's not about removal. It's about the general election. McCarthy knows full well that the Senate will vote to acquit no matter the strength of the evidence. This is about the opinion of independent voters of Biden and whether they will vote for him or not.

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    3. R. James

      The Senate will acquit, but that does not matter. What matters is the opinion of independent voters. If the inquiry and subsequent impeachment damages the already fragile support that Biden enjoys with independents, it opens a hole for Trump 2024. This is not about getting Biden removed from office. It's about dragging Biden down to Trump's level and reinforcing the opinion amongst independents that Biden is corrupt, in order to either get them to stay home or vote third party.

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        Charlie

        The inquiry and trial is more likely to prove that Joe Biden is not corrupt, which everyone in Washington already knows.

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        1. R. James

          "everyone in Washington"

          As if this was the standard which decides elections.

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      2. Lrdillon123

        All true, but with Trump facing at least four sets of extremely serious charges, who will win that debate with independents? It's a sad state of affairs that the presidential candidate with the fewest current indictments has the advantage in public opinion...

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        1. R. James

          It's not about winning the debate with independents. Trump doesn't have to win over anyone. He can just convince them to stay home or vote third party. Despite Trump's indictments, he's sitting at 44%. Biden dropping below that due to eroding of his support amongst independents is the goal.

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          1. Lrdillon123

            Oh, I agree. I am a reasonably adept student of American history: I am not sure our republic has ever faced a greater challenge. The quote PROBABLY correctly attributed to Jefferson, "Eternal vigilance is the price of freedom," is more apt now than perhaps ever. I am sure that someone has pointed out that a REASONABLY informed public is ALSO key to a functioning democracy, but in any event, thanks to Hate Radio, Fox News, the various social media platforms, etc., the great irony is that the Internet Age may mean the demise of the era of freedom. Heck, I used to be a rabid listener to NPR, but as 80% of its content is now about "Wokeness," I have abandoned it. What is to become of The Great American Experiment?

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        Everybody Digs Bill Evans

        I think that strategy will backfire colossally, just as it did in 1998, and turn independent voters even further away from Trump, who is already deep in the hole with this voter demographic.

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        1. R. James

          Maybe it does, maybe it doesn't. Trump doesn't have many cards left to play. But it's got to be encouraging to them to see that CNN's own polling puts 64% of independents believe that Biden was involved in the Hunter Biden scheme and 39% of independents believe that Biden committed a crime. And that's before a year long process where the words "Biden", "corrupt", and "bribe" get mentioned in the same sentence repeatedly.

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  8. Ed Kless

    I would also love to get Kevin's take on the "General" Paxton trial thus far.

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