Third and most important, the tweet shows McCarthy to be an inconsistent defender of the U.S. Constitution.

McCarthy asserts the legitimacy of a counter-majoritarian provision in the document when it results in a Republican taking the White House, but when a Republican president is at risk of being removed for his misdeeds, McCarthy suddenly portrays impeachment—a process that the same Founders ratified—as if it were illegitimate because the expressed will of the American people would be overturned.

McCarthy’s argument would be wrongheaded even if Trump had won the popular vote in 2016 and currently enjoyed high approval ratings. Members of Congress were elected by the people. Impeachment requires a majority in the House. Removal requires a two-thirds supermajority in the Senate. That is a high bar that must be cleared by people duly elected to represent the public will.

But McCarthy’s argument goes from wrongheaded to absurd when one notices that Trump did not win the popular vote and that more Americans disapprove of his performance than approve of it. Impeachment and removal are always constitutionally legitimate, and are, if anything, less objectionable in light of the 2016 vote tally that McCarthy absurdly invokes against removal.

Republicans want to keep a popular-vote loser in office by touting their party’s supposed regard for the will of the people. Their double standard can’t withstand scrutiny.