July 24, 2023 01:08 PM UTC

Ken Buck Twists Self Into Pretzel For Trump Once Again

•  
• by: Colorado Pols

CNN reports on the drama within the U.S. House Republican majority over a push to “expunge” former President Donald Trump’s two impeachments from the congressional record, a demand made by Trump personally but running into a wall of opposition that includes a number of not-so-MAGA Republicans:

Multiple sources tell CNN that calling a House vote to expunge the two impeachments against the former president would be a fool’s errand, as leadership does not have the votes to pass this. So even if McCarthy indicated to Trump he’d do it, it’s unlikely votes would be there – likely further inflaming tensions. Additionally, it is unclear if expunging an impeachment is possible and it has never been done before…

“Expunging” Trump’s two impeachments would in no way erase the historical record we all lived through, of course, and a narrow partisan House majority taking this vote would do absolutely nothing to ease national divisions over Trump’s presidency. And that’s before you consider that there will be Republican “no” votes, and just a handful of those would be required to turn the attempt to retroactively exonerate Trump into another full-blown public relations disaster.

But in the event House Speaker Kevin McCarthy does put an impeachment expungement measure to a vote, it looks like he’ll have the support of Colorado’s Rep. Ken Buck–despite Buck complaining that the whole business is superfluous and not constitutionally grounded:

GOP Rep. Ken Buck of Colorado told CNN’s Kaitlan Collins Friday that he would vote to expunge Trump’s impeachment if McCarthy were to bring it to the floor but added that it wouldn’t be “wise” for the speaker to do so “in terms of precedent that it sets.” [Pols emphasis]

“It’s probably wise for the Republican base. It’s not wise in terms of constitutional history,” Buck said on “The Source,” adding that “the Senate expunged when they voted not to impeach.”

If you know anything about Rep. Buck’s voting history in Congress, you know he’s one of the most dependable maverick “no” votes on legislation that he considers to be constitutionally or otherwise problematic–Buck’s consistent votes against raising the nation’s debt ceiling regardless of which party controls the White House being just one example. But despite Buck condemning the attempt to expunge Trump’s impeachments as “not wise in terms of constitutional history,” Trump doesn’t have to worry about Buck’s actual vote on the matter. Just like Buck’s vote to censure Rep. Ilhan Omar despite calling it “the stupidest vote in the world,” Buck is choosing for political reasons to not stand by his own stated principles.

Although Buck has flirted in recent months with disloyalty to Trump, the lack of any emergent alternative to Trump among the anemic field of Republican challengers is almost certainly factoring into his promise to vote for an “expungement” of Trump’s impeachment that Buck doesn’t even believe in. There’s no other way to excuse Buck’s failure to stand on principle in this case when he so obstinately does on vastly more consequential issues like the debt ceiling.

Except cowardice. That would explain pretty much everything.