Republicans will regret impeaching Joe Biden

As Napoleon is reputed to have said, never interrupt your enemy when he is making a mistake. So why are Republicans seeking to impeach Joe Biden when he’s looking increasingly capable of losing next year’s presidential election all by himself?

We will never know what kind of president Biden would have made in his prime, but it is clear that his prime was passed some time ago. It has become painful to watch the President interact with people or make a speech – even with prompt cards at the ready. This week, his press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre was moved to call a premature end to a press conference he had attempted to hold in Vietnam on his way back from the G20 summit, after he began rambling. His own team tried to drown him out by playing music as he continued to speak. ‘I’m going to bed,’ he eventually declared and left the podium.

What do Republicans hope to achieve by dragging America through another impeachment?

If only it could have been a metaphor for a retirement that looks long overdue. On Monday, the 22nd anniversary of 9/11, he intimated that he had been at Ground Zero in New York the day after the atrocity – when history records he was in Washington all day.

Biden’s frail performances have not been lost on the public. A CNN poll last week found that three-quarters of the American people are ‘seriously concerned’ about his mental and physical fitness for office.

When the campaigning begins in earnest next year, there is little chance that Biden will suddenly discover reserves of cogency. Yet for some Republicans it is not enough to let the President make the case against his own re-election. They are trying instead to change the narrative from one of incapability to one of malfeasance. The House Speaker Kevin McCarthy this week announced he is to launch a formal impeachment inquiry into Biden’s involvement in the dubious business dealings of his son Hunter.