Retired Navy captain and former political candidate Armen Kurdian appeared on Sputnik’s Final Countdown program Thursday to weigh in on recent developments in US politics, including House Republicans’ efforts to impeach President Biden and ex-Speaker McCarthy’s retirement.
“Don’t throw yourself onto a sword,” Kurdian advised House Republicans seeking Biden’s impeachment. “While, relatively speaking, there’s a lot more evidence here than there was during the first Trump impeachment trial… the Republicans have to be very careful about overreach and they just have to understand what is their end game.”
“I think Republicans need to be as dispassionate as possible during this inquiry,” said Kurdian.
Kurdian recalled Republicans’ impeachment of former US President Bill Clinton in the 90s on perjury charges, which was widely perceived to have backfired on the party. Democrats would go on to gain seats in the House of Representatives in the 1998 midterm election, a rare occurrence for the party of a sitting US president.
The former Navy captain speculated that, while Republicans had succeeded in politically damaging President Biden, providing the evidence required to impeach him will be more difficult.
“I think that’s about the best that they can get is to show that the president was dishonest, that he did know what was going on, that maybe some of the stuff he did had really bad perception, maybe some of it was improper,” said Kurdian. “Proving real malfeasance on the part of the president’s going to be really, really hard.”
While Kurdian claimed that former Republican House Speaker Kevin McCarthy “wasn’t necessarily a big fan of the impeachment inquiry,” he doesn’t think the latest push from conservatives in the party contributed to his decision to leave Congress before the end of the year.
“He’s probably just fed up,” said the analyst, noting the generalized chaos in the legislative body that saw conservative Republican Matt Gaetz lead an unprecedented effort to remove McCarthy from his speakership position in October. Kurdian speculated that McCarthy may work outside of government to defeat conservative Republicans who have been a thorn in the side of establishment party leaders.
“The most serious consequence of him leaving is the fact that the razor-thin majority has become virtually microscopic for Republicans in the House,” said Kurdian.
However, Kurdian was pessimistic about Democrats’ chances to retake the House of Representatives during the next election cycle, claiming they are becoming an “out of touch, elitist party.”
He noted that nine Democrats have announced their retirement from Congress, while only two Republicans have stated similar intentions, suggesting that Democratic Party legislators are likewise pessimistic about the party’s chances in 2024.
For more in-depth commentary on current affairs, check out our Sputnik Radio show The Final Countdown.