#769 Musings Beyond the Bunker (Tuesday October 10)
Good morning,
Last week’s debacle in the House of Representatives bore a strong relationship to the clown car at the circus. You know, when a goofy car winds its way to the center ring, stops, and any number of clowns come pouring out, each looking more ridiculous than the last. The circus returns to town today, with the House Republicans meeting to decide who will be the next Speaker.
The display of power by the ultra-right wing minority in ousting its own party’s speaker is a result without a purpose. It is of the same piece as the desire to shut down the government, but without a policy to go with it, other than obstruction and anger. The performative art last week demonstrated the dangers this faction poses to the healthy functioning of government. If we have learned anything, it is that it no longer is acceptable for Republican stalwarts to shrug off the slow demise of our democratic institutions, our elections, our deliberative bodies and our sense of decency with the excuse that this is but an aberration caused by Donald Trump. The problems run much deeper and they seem to increase by the day.
GOODBYE KEVIN MCCARTHY
It is hard to imagine anyone leaving the center stage with less of a groundswell of support and speeches of admiration than Kevin McCarthy. After all, his political and moral compasses have bounced around more than a “Superball” (kids of the 70s, remember those?). His greatest moment of diplomacy and backbone came with his denouncement of Donald Trump as having been the prime instigator of the January 6th riots in Washington. This unusual showing of principle quickly was tossed away, as Mr. McCarthy voted against certifying the election of Joe Biden and then ran to Mar-a-Lago to show his support for Mr. Trump.
Mr. McCarthy’s career can be characterized as a ceaseless drive for power, not adhering to a single principle that might impede that climb. The drive to the Speakership, the plum toward which Mr. McCarthy worked his entire career, required that he debase the office by allowing any single member to spring a vote to oust him. He went on, of course, to bring people like Marjorie Taylor Greene and other scurrilous election deniers and proto-fascists into positions of authority and responsibility in the inner sanctum of the people’s house.
FINALLY, REASONS TO LIKE MCCARTHY
Well, it all came down to it, Mr. McCarthy lost the Speakership because of two primary justifications, either of which, to my mind, offered the strongest argument for him to retain his position. He has been shunted aside because, through action and slow-motion, he actually did the right thing for a change. It is irony, writ large:
He negotiated a reasonable compromise with the Democrats in the House to avoid a government shutdown.
He has not moved fast enough or forcefully enough on the impeachment inquiries for Joe Biden, Aly Mayorkas, and Merritt Garland. While one would like to believe that he acted out of principle here, as there has been hardly a shred of evidence that would justify malfeasance in office by any of those people, he more likely was motivated by the political ramifications of flooding the news cycle with such scurrilous and unfounded performative art.
With respect to the latter, Mr. McCarthy begrudgingly authorized an inquiry to determine whether there should be an impeachment inquiry against Mr. Biden. This is notwithstanding the lack of evidence of any wrongdoing by the president. Then there is Aly Mayorkas, who is being blamed for the border crisis and whose biggest crime may have been a decision or two here or there, made while doing his job. Finally, there’s Merrick Garland, ostensibly presiding over the federal investigations of Mr. Trump, yet assiduously avoiding any involvement in those cases. In the meantime, experts brought before the investigatory committee repeatedly have indicated the lack of grounds for such inquiries. What a travesty.
Mr. McCarthy was done-in by the shackles he agreed to have placed on himself when he sought the much-weakened position of Speaker, to be wielded by the likes of Matt Gaetz, a man under ethics investigation and accused of interstate trafficking of underage girls.
THE PATH AHEAD
Now we are faced with the prospect of fire-breathing right wingers, election deniers and Trump sycophants both, in the lead for the Speakership. But who of right mind would want this job? They are under total fealty to the far right and their demands, subject to removal at any time. I suspect this limitation on future snap-votes will fall by the wayside in the current process (and good riddance to that!).
In any event, Jim Jordan, a disrupter of the highest order and the chair of the House Judiciary Committee and the oddly and politically named “United States House Judiciary Select Subcommittee on the Weaponization of the Federal Government” is the leading candidate for the Speakership. He also is an unapologetic advocate for impeaching seemingly everyone in the administration and has staked a position against further funding of Ukraine in its war of survival.
Meanwhile, his leading challenger is Mr. Scalise, another election denier, who spoke a while back at a white supremacist convention (later, to his credit, apologizing and claiming he didn’t know who they were). This, of course, is the same guy who described himself as “David Duke but without the baggage.”
Unless some change emerges, the Republicans are headed toward election of a Speaker dedicated to obstruction and against any sort of compromise, as it would weaken their megaphone to their base that they are resisting anything from a left that they characterize as hell-bent on destroying their vision of the American way of life. It is a slash-and-burn brand of conservatism—not conservative at all, but a philosophy of standing in the way of progress at every turn, appealing to people’s worst angels, and performing for the right wing media.
As if this weren’t bad enough, there are those who would like Donald Trump to be Speaker, under some twisted logic that a non-member of the House could serve. Texas Representative Troy Nehls says, “Next week is going to be HUGE,” as he continues to push for nominating the disgraced former president.
The Republicans in the House have shown themselves beholden to a rogue’s gallery of obstructionists who have no interest in governing or compromise. If the “moderates” (and I use that term advisedly) really believe in governing and are willing to break from the nuttier wing of their caucus, they must make a deal with the Democrats to field a candidate the Democrats and the moderates both can tolerate. And just maybe the House can function again.
Otherwise, I think the conclusion is obvious—the Republican party in its current incarnation cannot be trusted to govern.
Have a great day,
Glenn