Republicans have explored a number of ways to impeach President Biden. House Speaker Kevin McCarthy’s newfound support for impeachment, however, represents a significant new shift in U.S. politics.

Straight Arrow News contributor Jordan Reid argues that McCarthy’s flip comes from the need to distract American attention away from the criminal cases against former President Donald Trump. She adds that McCarthy’s goal is not actually to impeach President Biden but to create the perception among voters that Biden and Trump are equally corrupt.

First, certain far-right Republicans in the House, members of the House Freedom Caucus specifically, are threatening a government shutdown if their demands aren’t met. Now, these demands are extreme. They’re wide-ranging and they are difficult to parse, yet alone meet, as they cover everything from so-called “woke” Pentagon policies, pulling funding from Ukraine, and what they view as the weaponization of the Justice Department. The House Freedom Caucus notably also has the power to oust McCarthy from his position. And this has led to McCarthy’s renewed effort to communicate his support for Biden’s impeachment. As McCarthy said, “If we shut down, all the government shuts down, investigation and everything else.”

The other reason I think McCarthy is leaning further towards impeachment is that it provides a fantastic distraction from Trump’s legal woes. More than a distraction even, it’s a delusion. It’s a way to pull focus from the fact that we are for the very first time witnessing a former president get booked into jail, mugshot and all.

Were the House to impeach Biden, it might suggest to voters that, hey, impeachment is just part and parcel of being president, a political weapon used to make Biden seem equally corrupt to Trump.