An impeachment-and-shutdown show will fuel the crisis in US democracy

Government events once seen as rare, dangerous and to be avoided at all costs are now deployed with increasing abandon

If it's Thursday, it must be impeachment. If it's Saturday, it must be government shutdown. Next week, Republicans in Congress seem determined to prove that US democracy is broken.

The party plans to hold the first hearing on its impeachment inquiry into Joe Biden over his family's business dealings on 28 September. Meanwhile the Republican-controlled House of Representatives is barreling towards a deadline of 30 September to keep federal agencies running.