Discussion
Thomas Massie is a terrible lawmaker, and I'm glad to see him go, but his articles of impeachment against Hegseth are devastating and self-evident. It is to the current House's great shame that it failed.
Under normal circumstances, even a single one of these charges would result in the secretary's resignation or firing. But under the current president, the only grounds for that are disloyalty (to him). War crimes are just part of the job.
And yes, there are reasons to suspect that any attempt to remove a member of this administration by impeachment would probably fail, at least under the current political climate. But the process still has value. It focuses attention, puts facts on the record, and creates political and public pressure.
@mattblaze Saw a good thread from @SeanCasten discussing that this was probably the best result of a no vote on Hegseth's impeachment: https://mastodon.social/@SeanCasten/117597994670813894
@mattblaze It also serves the useful purpose of forcing members of congress to have their vote on permanent, undeniable record. The lack of impeachments by Democrats in the first half of this term has allowed Republicans to have deniability that they are complicit in keeping these people in power.
@mattblaze I assume these charges will resurface in January
@Nonya_Bidniss No doubt. But it's a sad commentary on the current state of affairs that Hegseth still has a job. Under any other president, he'd hae been out before the vote even happened.
Of course, the next congress (seated in just a few weeks) is free to vote on the same charges.
Although impeachment has some of the trappings of a criminal process, it is not one, and there's no protection against double jeopardy. When and on what grounds to impeach is entirely up to the House, and whether to convict entirely up to the Senate.