13 November 2026

Who's Next?

at [UTC–8]

So, the impeachment of Major Major Major has been deferred to 03 Jan 2027 or thereafter. This may turn out to be a blessing in disguise, on more than one axis. (It will be no blessing whatsoever for servicemembers, dependants, or for that matter the rest of the world.) For one thing, his theocratic impulses will lead to more outrages in the seven weeks before then; I put the over/under at 1.5 and I'm taking the over. More importantly, the easily-anticipated procedural snarl is a great big lesson to the incoming leadership — whoever that may be — to get their bloody ducks in a row first.1

So we'll be revisiting Major Major Major, with a new set of Articles of Impeachment (which expire when the House turns over on 03 January — unlike in the Senate, where bills can hold over). The interesting question, though, is the title of this entry: Who's Next? There are so many candidates with significant "high crimes and misdemeanors" to choose from. I'll leave the Orange Menace out for the moment, because it's going to take a new, significant, unmistakeable, supported-by-evidence outrage to get anywhere.2 Putting these in order has been difficult, and I'm willing to be persuaded to move positions up and down (or even move another candidate into the top four):

  1. Todd Blanche, Attorney General of the United States: Perhaps the most obvious is that he has not only tolerated, but seems to have encouraged, lying to courts. That's just one example; the interference with the running of United States Attorneys' offices (is that the ghost of Monica Goodling I hear crying in the corner?), the weaponized prosecutions while whingeing about "the other guys'" supposed weaponization of prosecutions, the attempted interference in election processing, failure to supervise other loyalty purges within his department — the list goes on.
  2. Robert F. Kennedy, Jr., Secretary of Health and Human Services: His name and reliance on "family status" to get attention in the first place should be enough, but probably isn't. Political interference with critical research grant selection and disbursement (especially after COVID), interference with the part of the healthcare system for which he has even less competence than at any other part of the job, junk-science-and-politics-motivated suppression of scientifically validated as necessary vaccines (by the way, vaccination is fairly important)… again, the list goes on.
  3. Markwayne Mullin, Secretary of Homeland Security: ICE. That's enough, whether at the arrest stage or later.
  4. Russell Vought, Director of the Office of Management and Budget: It seems to me that intentionally and vindictively violating Congressional spending directives qualifies as a "high crime and misdemeanor." Unlearning the lessons of two decades ago and de facto shuttering the agency without Congressional approval — in fact, without even trying to introduce legislation that would actually change the statutory mission — does too.3

One obvious name that's not on this list: Stephen Miller. The President's Chief of Staff probably is not subject to impeachment, so he skates on a technicality.

  1. Note to the eleven absentees: First of all, there's no excuse for a "welcoming reception" being held when there's a pending vote. Delay the bloody reception to the bloody evening. Presuming, of course, that all the egos involved could tamp themselves down for long enough to adapt to bloody reality… ok, unrealistic, but still…

    And the less said about excuses relating to Veterans' Day celebrations, the better — especially, but not only, by non-veterans three decades past mandatory military retirement age (except when otherwise specifically confirmed by the Senate).

  2. I set the probability at approximately 0.95 by the end of October 2027. The real question will end up being not outrage, but evidence available to sway at least 20% of the GOP House and Senate members. Remember, it wasn't the big outrages that sank Nixon; it was his intransigence in the process, combined with the non-erased tapes (which were not available when the articles of impeachment were submitted).
  3. He does escape responsibility for Vought International… because, however parallel the attitude, that's fictional (and he's so isolationist he probably can't spell "International"). Plus, Homelander really belongs to DHS.