Democrats shouldn’t have dished it out if they couldn’t take it. As it appears more likely that Republicans will retake the House of Representatives and possibly the Senate, discussions of impeaching President Joe Biden are becoming more prevalent on the right. However, not everyone is keen on the idea.

House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy (R-CA) recently warned against impeaching President Biden when they retake the House. As calls for Biden’s impeachment are increasing on the right, it appears the lawmaker is signaling that he would not lend his support to such an endeavor.

He might want to rethink this one.

During a conversation with Fox Business’ Maria Bartiromo, McCarthy declared House Republicans would hold the Biden administration “accountable” and that if the slew of investigations they plan to launch turns up something actionable, they could impeach. However, he was hesitant to fully support such an initiative. He said, “One thing we learned that the Democrats did is they – they used impeachment for political reasons.”

“We believe in the rule of law,” McCarthy continued. “We’re not going to pick and choose just because somebody has power. We’re going to uphold the law. At any time, if someone breaks the law and the ramification becomes impeachment, we would move towards that. But we’re not going to use it for political purposes.”

The lawmaker then promised that House GOP would “take the facts to wherever the facts go, because America’s been through too much with people playing politics with the concept of impeachment.”

McCarthy is riding the fence on this one. He is not backing the impeachment idea, but he has not fully closed the door on it either. One would almost think he’s a politician or something.

Many high-profile Republicans have been vocal in their calls for Biden’s impeachment. They became increasingly aggressive while the administration botched the withdrawal from Afghanistan and allowed the Taliban to sweep through the country. They cited the deaths of 13 US service members who were killed in a terrorist attack outside Kabul airport.

McCarthy, for his part, vowed there would be a “day of reckoning” for the president because of the Afghanistan SNAFU.

Sen. Ted Cruz (R-TX) on his podcast speculated that “there’s a chance” Republicans will begin impeachment proceedings when they retake the house in the upcoming congressional elections. “If we take the House, which I said is overwhelmingly likely, then I think we will see serious investigations of the Biden administration,” he said.

The senator, like McCarthy, pointed out that under former President Donald Trump, Democrats “weaponized impeachment.” He said:

“They used it for partisan purposes to go after Trump because they disagreed with him. One of the real disadvantages of doing that is the more you weaponize it and turn it into a partisan cudgel, you know, what’s good for the goose is good for the gander.”

Cruz also speculated that there could be “multiple grounds to consider for impeachment” and pointed out that the White House’s abysmal handling of the border crisis might be the strongest case Republicans could make. He said:

“Probably the most compelling is the utter lawlessness of President Biden’s refusal to enforce the border. His decision to just defy federal immigration laws and allow 2 million people to come here unimpeded in direct contravention of his obligation under Article Two of the Constitution to take care that the laws be faithfully executed.”

He continued: “That is probably the strongest grounds right now for impeachment, but there may be others. Because the Democrats decided this is just another tool in the partisan war chest, I think there is a real risk that this turnabout will be fair play.”

I’m going to be blunt: McCarthy is dead wrong.

When Republicans take back the House – and possibly the Senate – they absolutely should impeach President Biden. In fact, if the first attempt fails, they should try again. Cruz is right, turnabout is fair play.

It is the same principle behind McCarthy’s earlier vow that House GOP would strip Reps. Ilhan Omar (D-MN), Rashida Tlaib (D-MI), Adam Schiff (D-CA), and Eric Swalwell (D-CA) of their committee assignments. There are compelling reasons to make this type of move given that each of them has said or done things that would justify it.

But we all know that’s not why Republicans want to punish them. The thinking behind this is that it would show Democrats that if they remove Republican representatives from their assignments for politically-motivated reasons as they did with Reps. Marjorie Taylor Greene (R-GA) and Paul Gosar (R-AZ), then they would be given the same treatment.

The thinking should be the same for impeachment.

Democrats launched two impeachment attempts against Trump – one of which took place after he was already out of office. Both were absurd and nakedly political. In fact, even before the former president took office, the left was already talking about impeaching him. It was abundantly clear that they planned to do this from the start.

I’m not indicating in this piece whether impeachment is warranted. I’m not even saying I like that this is even necessary. But unfortunately, this is the political landscape in which we are currently living. Just like with its lawmakers, Democrats need to know that if they use the impeachment process as a political weapon and not a mechanism by which lawmakers can address actual “high crimes and misdemeanors,” their presidents can be subject to the same treatment whether it is fair or not.

It is the only chance that the GOP could ensure fair play. Of course, this is no guarantee that Democrats will learn their lesson. But if the right fails to act, we can be 100 percent sure the Democrats will continue using these cynical political strategies.

Of course, there is the possibility that such a move could backfire on Republicans. Perhaps the public would look askew at yet another impeachment saga. This is a valid concern – one that I share. However, even if this scenario were to materialize, it is unlikely to do any lasting damage to the GOP. Indeed, President Biden and his merry band of Democrats in Congress have so thoroughly fouled things up that the public will not be forgetting anytime soon. If voters don’t look favorably upon impeachment, the GOP won’t take enough of a hit to affect its chances of winning the White House in 2024. To put it simply, it’s worth the risk. After all, it’s what the Democrats asked for, isn’t it?