“Impeach Biden” GOP Firebrand— Congressmember Mary Miller September 26, 2023
What a surprise! The five-member GOP House majority’s “actions,” I mean inactions, would come as no shock to Democratic President Harry Truman. Truman, remember, labeled the GOP House and Senate majorities in the 80th Congress (1/03/1947-1/03/1949) as the reactionary “Do Nothing Congress” that could care less about the average American. He campaigned against them as much as he did against his 1948 GOP presidential rival Thomas Dewey, and won a surprising victory against both Dewey and his GOP congressional allies (wiki, Morison, S.E., “The Oxford History Of The American People,” 1965). Had Truman been alive today, he surely would have called the current 118th Congress, with its GOP House majority, the “Do Nothing House of Representatives,” Number 2. All this House GOP majority, under its ineffectual spineless leader, GOP Speaker Kevin McCarthy (R-CA), can do is hound Democrats in general, and their leader President Joe Biden, in particular, with useless fishing expeditions which have turned up absolutely nothing. This group is obsessed with going after President Biden for the “sin” of fathering Hunter Biden. They are vainly trying to tie Pres. Biden to Hunter’s legal problems, and have completely come up with “goose eggs.” Well, that’s not enough for “Team Red.” They must keep looking for dirt without stop to incriminate Pres. Biden. When numerous committee investigations have failed to find criminal activity on Pres. Biden’s part, what’s Speaker McCarthy’s next step? On September 12, 2023, after months of refusing to do so, McCarthy has ordered the GOP-dominated House Oversight, Judiciary, and Ways and Means Committees to start an impeachment inquiry into Biden, although there is no evidence that Biden has committed any “high crimes and misdemeanors” as required by our Constitution (French, nytimes.com). Why did McCarthy suddenly decide to change his mind and go down the impeachment rabbit hole? Because, McCarthy is a SINO, “Speaker-in-Name Only.” In order to keep his job, which took him 15 ballots to get, he has bow down without stop before the real GOP House “leaders,” extremist MTG, Marjorie Taylor Greene (R-GA), Lauren Boebert (R-CO), Matt Gaetz (R-FL), and all the other off-the-wall members of the Freedom Caucus and their sympathizers. This Freedom Caucus gang and their friends, not McCarthy, constitute the true Speakers of the House. These wackos are taking their orders from and constantly talking to “Emperor-in-exile” Donald “Napoleon” Trump, (nytimes.com, Swan, Haberman, & McFadden, 9/13/23). Like the original Napoleon, Demagogue Donald plans to return to power, not with the French Army, but via another presidential run in 2024. Most of us have heard about the antics of Reps. MTG, Boebert, and Gaetz. However, the Freedom Caucus and their friends contain other just as fanatical members who usually don’t get the same coverage as this far-out trio. Meet another “Impeach Biden” firebrand, Congressmember Mary Miller.
Second-term Congressmember Mary Miller (64) currently represents Illinois’ 15th Cong. District (CD). The recently redistricted 15th covers most of central Illinois. It includes all or parts of 35 counties. Most of Champaign County, Calhoun County, and Macon County lie in the 15th. The 15th CD includes most of Madison County, one-half of Sangamon County, and Coles County. Although located in heavily “Blue”-state IL, the 15th CD has a lobster “Red” R+22 Cook Partisan Voting Index (PVI). The IL 15th has very few traditional Democrats and is that state’s most GOP district. The 15th is lopsidedly 92.30% White. It has a Black population of just 4.70% and a small 2.80% Latino population (Cohen & Cook 2022 Political Almanac). In 2020, Trump won 72% of the 15th’s voters versus the 26% who went for Biden, the identical 46% margin he won in 2016 against Hillary, 70% v. 24% (Cohen & Cook 2022). Except for a part of university-based Champaign County, Trump won 70% (2016) and then 72% of the vote (2020) in each of the 15th’s counties. In most of the IL 15th, there are no elected Democrats above the county level (wiki). The 15th is among the top five percent national GOP congressional districts (Cohen & Cook 2022 Almanac).
Miller received two Bachelor’s degrees from Eastern Illinois University in business management and elementary education. Miller and her husband Chris ran a grain and cattle farm in Coles County. She taught children in homeschools and religious schools at her local church. In 2018, husband Chris was elected to the IL state house (Cohen & Cook 2022).
Miller declared her candidacy for the IL 15th CD in the 2020 elections. She hoped to succeed retiring GOP incumbent John Shimkus who had represented the 15th for 12 terms (Cohen & Cook 2022). She campaigned as a “true outsider” and a candidate running on the themes of “faith, family, and freedom.” She emphasized her background as a farmer and homeschool teacher. She stood for conservative principles in her heavily GOP district. She endorsed “term limits,” another GOP theme, which that party often ignores once in power. Miller declared, “Washington D.C. won’t change me. I am running to change Washington.” She highlighted her political independence by citing her previous support of far-right conservative Jeanne Ives. Ives ran a close but unsuccessful race in the 2018 GOP gubernatorial primary against then incumbent GOP Gov. Bruce Rauner. Rauner later lost the 2018 governor’s race to Democrat J.B. Pritzker (Cohen & Cook 2022). In 2020, Miller handily won her congressional primary. She received the backing of House GOPers. The extremist House Freedom Caucus gave her $500,000. In this heavily GOP district, Miller’s primary win was tantamount to victory. In 11/2020, she clobbered her underfinanced Democratic rival by 46 points, 73%-27% (Cohen & Cook 2022). In 2022, Miller, with Donald’s endorsement, was handily re-elected to a second term, with 71% of the vote (CQ, 118th Congress At Your Fingertips).
Miller sided with Demagogue Donald’s false claims that the 2020 presidential election was compromised by voter fraud. She tweeted her endorsement of Demagogue Donald’s 2024 presidential run on the night of his campaign launch (businessinsider.com, Metzger & Saddiq, 2/13/23). She called the Trump v. Biden 2020 results “tainted (Sweet, 1/03/21).” On January 6, 2021, the day Congress met to formally count the electoral votes and on the same day that Trump-incited rioters unsuccessfully tried to seize the Capitol, Cong. Miller was one of the GOP House members who objected to the electoral votes of Arizona and Pennsylvania for Biden (Behrmann & Santucci, usatoday.com, 1/14/21). In June, 2021, Cong. Miller was one of 21 House GOPers to vote against a resolution to give the Congressional Gold Medal to police officers who defended the U.S. Capitol on January 6, 2021 (cnn.com, 6/15/21, Grayer & Wilson).
Cong. Miller sits on the House Agriculture and Education and Workforce Committees (118th Cong At Your Fingertips). She is a member of the Republican Study Committee, the largest and most influential conservative bloc in the House GOP. Cong. Miller is a proud member of the House Freedom Caucus (chicagotribune.com, 12/06/17, rsc-banks.house.gov). The House Freedom Caucus is considered the most conservative and farthest-right bloc within the House Republican Conference. It was founded in 1/2015 by conservatives and anti-government Tea Party members. Its first chairperson, extremist Jim Jordan (R-OH), described it as a small group aimed at pushing GOP leadership further to the right (wiki). This group was influential in pushing former GOP House Speaker John Boehner (R-OH) out of office. It also was responsible for forcing Kevin McCarthy (R-CA) to agree to its ultra-right demands before he could become Speaker. Even when McCarthy finally became GOP Speaker, after a 15-ballot marathon, 19 Freedom Caucus members still voted against him (wiki). As previously noted, Miller is a fellow member of this group that includes Lauren Boebert, and Matt Gaetz.
And here is where Cong. Miller stands on several key issues. She is for banning transgender girls in school from using bathrooms that correspond to their gender identity. She is against gay marriage and argues that it attacks “the traditional family (Moore, thesouthern.com/news, 3/02/21, courierpress.com).” Cong. Miller has accused Biden of having a plan to “flood our country with terrorists, child traffickers, fentanyl, and MS-13 gang members (Valentino-DeVries & Eder, 10/22/22, nytimes.com).” Miller voted against sending $40 billion in emergency aid to Ukraine which is fighting a war against a brutal and unprovoked Russian aggression by Vladimir Putin’s forces (Roche, 5/11/22, newsweek.com). On June 25, 2022, the day after the Supreme Court overturned “Roe v. Wade” and “Planned Parenthood v. Casey,” Cong. Miller spoke at a rally with Donald and called these anti-choice opinions an “historic victory for white life.” Later that night, her spokesperson stated that Miller had misread her notes and meant to say “right to life (abcnews.go.com, Cohen, M., 6/26/22).” Cong. Miller has called for the return of the role of God in public schools and has expressed support for Christian nationalism (twitter.com/Miller, 7/10/22). Christian nationalism is an attempt to achieve a Christian theocracy within a society, in violation of the Constitution’s First Amendment Establishment Clause, and counts many U.S. GOPers and evangelicals among its supporters (politico.com, Rouse & Telhami, 9/21/22).
Cong. Miller has been for impeaching Biden from the “get-go.” In the 117th Congress, Miller co-sponsored four resolutions to impeach Biden (“H. Res. 57,” “H.Res. 596,” “H.Res. 597,” “H. Res. 598”). For good “measure,” in the 117th Congress, Miller co-sponsored resolutions to impeach Atty. General Merrick Garland and Sec. of State Antony Blinken (“H.Res. 1318,” “H.Res. 608”). In the present 118th Congress, Rep. Miller has co-sponsered resolutions to impeach Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas and VP Kamala Harris (“H.Res.8,” “H. Res.494”).
And get this. On January 5, 2021, just two days into her first House term, Cong. Miller entered “crazy town.” On that date, Miller issued a prepared speech to the conservative group Moms for America. And whom did she quote? Why none other than chief Nazi tyrant and butcher Adolf Hitler. She told this group that Hitler had said, “Each generation has the responsibility to teach and train the next generation. You know, if we win a few elections, we’re still going to be losing unless we win the hearts and minds of our children. This is the battle. Hitler was right on one thing: ‘Whoever has the youth has the future (nbcchicago.com, 1/06/212).’” Adolf Hitler is Miller’s role model? How beyond low can you go? A “y uu ge” outcry from GOPers, Jewish groups and individuals, including the U.S. Holocaust Memorial Museum, followed. IL Rep. Jan Schakowsky said she would introduce a measure to censure Miller (abc7chicago.com, 1/14/21). Miller’s office lamely replied that her remarks were an attempt to compare youth efforts by “left-wing radicals” to those of Hitler (new.yahoo.com, Pearson, R., 1/07/21). When she spoke about Hitler, Miller sure didn’t mention any talk about “left-wing radicals.” In any event, Miller lamely apologized for having quoted Hitler, but blamed critics for twisting her words (Pearson, R., 1/08/21, Chicago tribune.com). Cong. Miller—a typical GOPer. When she makes a terrible mistake, it’s the fault of other people who twisted her words, never her responsibility.
In her “royal Red” IL district, Cong. Miller can keep getting elected as long as she wants. However, if in 11/2024, Democrats flip 5 GOP House seats, “Team Blue” will recapture the House. Cong. Miller can then make her absurd comments to her fellow “Freedumb” Caucus buddies, the only ones who will always pay attention to her rantings. With a Democratic House, Miller’s and Kevin McCarthy’s plans to impeach Biden will become moot.