Republican presidential candidate Sen. Ted Cruz, R-Texas, joined by former Hewlett-Packard CEO Carly Fiorina waves during a rally in Indianapolis, Wednesday, April 27, 2016, when Cruz announced he has chosen Fiorina to serve as his running mate. (AP Photo/Michael Conroy)
Carly Fiorina was once a budding Republican star. Back in 2016, in a campaign that feels like decades ago, she took the stage as a former CEO, hoping to garner support as the lone female in the primary field.
It didn’t happen. After a brief trip near the top tier, Fiorina faded, unable to remain viable into mid-February of that year. And while it’s hard to remember at this point, she got a brief resurgence into the spotlight when Ted Cruz picked her to be his VP (despite not even being nominated). That went over like a lead balloon with voters.
Since then, Fiorina hasn’t been able to garner much attention, perhaps because she otherwise has no real connection to Republican politics. Apparently, she’s going to try a new strategy though – coming out in support of impeachment.
Former Republican presidential candidate @CarlyFiorina tells @poppyharlowCNN it is “vital” that President Trump be impeached. She says his conduct is “destructive to our republic” #BossFiles https://t.co/a6rTlvlp7D pic.twitter.com/8HWU2CKsNl
— WarnerMedia Podcast Network (@WarnerMediaPods) December 16, 2019
Former HP CEO and Republican presidential candidate @CarlyFiorina says that is it “vital” that Donald Trump be impeached.
https://t.co/IhTA8J4F6L— Daily Caller (@DailyCaller) December 16, 2019
Well, if that was the standard, the GOP really screwed up by not impeaching Obama.
In an interview with CNN’s Poppy Harlow (because, of course, she went to CNN), Fiorina lays out why she supports removing Trump from office. It’s much of the same vague machinations we’ve seen from people like Justin Amash. You don’t impeach a President because of opinions about their supposed harm to the republic. Often, one man’s harm is another man’s policy platform. There’s also very little case that Trump did anything at all to hurt our national security during or after that summer 2019 phone call with Ukrainian President Zelensky. The cardinal question is and continues to be if there was a crime committed. There clearly wasn’t.
Fiorina’s announcement has got all the usual people salivating.
Whoa….. https://t.co/TgRQe4qwg8
— Charlie Sykes (@SykesCharlie) December 16, 2019
Last I checked, Fiorina isn’t a Senator and has been a staunch Trump critic for years, so I fail to see the “whoa” in this moment. It’s hardly surprising that she’d support impeachment, as there’s also been a small contingent of Republicans who see removal of the President as a way to regain influence.
Of course, even as she came out in support of impeachment, citing the grave danger Trump presents, Fiorina managed to make no sense along the way. For example, she doesn’t rule out voting for Trump in 2020. Yes, you read that right.
An actual headline:
“Carly Fiorina says it is 'vital' Trump be impeached, but doesn't rule out voting for him in 2020” https://t.co/94u3AWrcvP
— Aaron Blake (@AaronBlake) December 16, 2019
That’s exactly the kind of incoherent vacillation among the Republican elite that got Trump elected in the first place. He’s either destructive to our republic or he’s not. You can’t want to impeach and remove the President and then also say you might vote to re-elect him. That makes no sense at all.
Fiorina likely has no future in the GOP, although she’s made several futile attempts to regain notoriety over the last few years. Supporting impeachment will put an end to those hopes, though. And if it doesn’t, the silly, contradictory nature of her arguments should.
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