“A house divided against itself cannot stand.”
Abraham Lincoln
It took a historic 15 votes, but Kevin McCarthy (R-CA) finally got his wish last Saturday and will replace Nancy Pelosi as Speaker of the House. However, it didn’t happen without plenty of drama, spectacle, and discord in the Grand Old Party. The in-fighting between MAGA loyalists and more moderate Republicans left the House without a speaker for a week.
There are many humorous tweets and posts on social media regarding the sophomoric behavior of such right-wingers as Lauren Boebert (R-CO), Matt Gaetz (R-FL), and Marjorie Taylor Greene (R-GA) for not supporting McCarthy because he didn’t guarantee chairmanship of certain House committees. For example, Gaetz strode into McCarthy’s office last Monday night with a list of demands, including the chairmanship of a key House Armed Services subcommittee.
Before the 14th vote on Friday night, McCarthy was captured on camera walking away from Gaetz after a brief discussion. Then an angry-looking Armed Services Chairman Mike Rogers moved toward Gaetz, having to be physically restrained by Richard Hudson (R-NC).
During a closed-door conference meeting on Jan. 2, McCarthy failed to move members of the Freedom Caucus, with Rep. Boebert reportedly yelling, “Bullshit!” when McCarthy told his critics he’d earned the Speakership. Then Marjorie Taylor Greene lashed out at Boebert for creating “drama” as the vote to elect a House speaker slogged on.
The 20 right-wing “rebels” who made it a very long week for the embattled speaker only want to enhance their own standing in the House at the cost of party unity: They reveled in the drama and surely enjoyed their sound bites on Fox News.
Then, the final hours of McCarthy’s desperate attempt to win the speakership featured numerous back-room dealings with the MAGA rebels, some arm-twisting, and even phone calls from Donald J. Trump.
When talking to the press about his final victory, McCarthy listed a plethora of right-wing agenda items, such as immigration, IRS funding the teaching of “woke” policies in public education. He also thanked Trump, stating “He was a great influence to make that all happen. So thank you, President Trump.”
Amidst all the drama, as Americans we got a closer look at what the so-called Freedom Caucus and MAGA republicans are all about: It’s power. Serving the public and upholding the Constitution is just an afterthought. Americans saw first-hand a GOP-led cohort in disarray, one pledged to maintain power for power’s sake, and the other committed to unity and serving in the public interest.
Although I find comfort in a Democratic-led Senate, I am worried: A fractured political party that held our country hostage for its own interests is a blatant danger to democracy. The GOP has morphed into a party that is divided and extremist, and no doubt will push its own agenda such as the erosion of LGBTQ+ rights, women’s rights, human rights, and voting rights while initiating attacks on the Biden administration.
The next two years in the US House of Representatives just might be a bumpy ride, riddled with spectacle and division. I hope I’m wrong.