Kevin’s Really Bad Terrible Week!

 

Did you watch the spectacle in the US House this week? Did you see our democracy at its’ lowest as power plays weighed in over principles? What picture did this send to the world?

I watched a man vying for one of the most powerful positions in Washington so tied up with the idea that only he should have this post that he surrendered the governance of our country to a group of about twenty renegade elected officials. He appeared to give in time after time to concessions demanded by members of his own party. These concessions were not about policies as much as they were about power. He even agreed to allow the body to demand a vote on vacating his position should a single member request it. He supposedly gave in and allotted several positions on the rules committee-the committee that governs what issues can reach the floor to the recalcitrant factions' members.

I think that he should have realized that these members were not with him early on and that for the betterment of the institution, he should have bowed out and found someone who could be acceptable to the members. Once he started giving in to this and that, he weakened his position and lost respect. His party also showed itself to be in chaos since it could not come up with a consensus candidate. The press quoted McCarthy as saying at one point he earned this position after faithfully standing as minority leader for several years. But it should not have been about him; he was passed over previously when his party could not agree on him for the leadership role.

Most conservatives consider him a fund-raiser, not an ideologue. Many of his members had far-right policies, but he did not, even though he was conservative. He vacillated on his comments about DJT and the MAGA World staging the January sixth coup attempt, initially condemning, then eventually reneging on those comments. He famously went to Mar-a-Lago two weeks after January sixth, where he was photographed with the disgraced former president. He was not strong enough to stand up for what he knew was right. DJT was active on the phone that night trying to drum up support for McCarthy. I think that this was probably being done more to make himself seem relevant considering ever-decreasing poll numbers, rather than fervor for McCarthy.

Commentators have variously described members of this opposition group as ultra-conservatives or obstructionists who don’t believe in government but are nihilists who want to tear the place down. Most of them voted to not certify the election of 2020 in the aftermath of the January 6^th insurrection. Matt Gaetz, a Congressman from Florida, previously was accused of questionable personal behavior, Paul Gosar was reprimanded for videos threatening Congressional representative Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, Representatives Bobert and Harris were faulted for trying to bring firearms onto the House floor and Marjorie Taylor-Greene lost her committee assignments for behavior considered unacceptable in the House in the previous Congress and for her Q-Anon, anti-Semitic and white supremacists affiliations. Gosar is now threatening to release information about Greene and supposed sexual improprieties since she changed her support and voted for McCarthy.

Gaetz basked in the role of troublemaker, first casting his vote for others, then for the former president, and then finally voting ‘present’ to keep his never-Kevin credentials intact. Bobert also voted present, as did a few others. Gaetz was supposedly demanding a seat on the Armed Services Committee and the Rules Committee, but one never knows what really happened.

These are just a few of those in this group; Greene, however, is now supporting McCarthy because she won some promises from him, some say in her quest to impeach President Biden. But, since McCarthy has now agreed to remove the magnetometers from the entrances to the House floor, perhaps Bobert and Harris can again feel safe and carry their firearms onto the floor of the House. Of course, many of their associates may no longer feel safe, but whatever!

The Republican Representatives eventually elected Kevin McCarthy on the 15^th ballot, as voting took over four days before he reached the threshold of about 216 or so votes. The spectacle and the obvious ‘horse-trading’ going on were visible to all since the C-SPAN cameras were not controlled by leadership, since no leadership had yet been appointed. The newly elected representatives, some of whom brought their families to Washington to see their swearing-in, could not be sworn in. Baby bottles and strollers occupied the House floor, along with spouses and parents who would spend days waiting for a Speaker to be chosen. Some visitors had to return home because of other responsibilities. One Congressman complained that the men’s room had no changing tables for babies. What an eye-opening fact! There was no Congressional action since no Congress had been formed.

Meanwhile, on vote after vote, the Democrats consistently voted for Hakeem Jeffries, who received 212 votes, the totality of their caucus. Hakeem and his leadership team of Pete Aguilar of California and Katherine Clark of Massachusetts kept their caucus present and together on vote after vote.

Once McCarthy was finally selected, after midnight on Friday evening, Jeffries stood up to give his welcoming speech. As said by Heather Cox Richardson, it was a barn burner ! He reiterated Democratic principles and vowed to keep those front and center. He said he would cooperate where he could, but would not concede on core beliefs. Below are some comments from his speech:
“As Democrats,” he said, “we do believe in a country for everyone…. We believe in a country with liberty and justice for all, equal protection under the law, free and fair elections, and yes, we believe in a country with the peaceful transfer of power.
“We believe that in America our diversity is a strength—it is not a weakness—an economic strength, a competitive strength, a cultural strength…. We are a gorgeous mosaic of people from throughout the world. As John Lewis would sometimes remind us on this floor, we may have come over on different ships but we’re all in the same boat now. We are white. We are Black. We are Latino. We are Asian. We are Native American.
“We are Christian. We are Jewish. We are Muslim. We are Hindu. We are religious. We are secular. We are gay. We are straight. We are young. We are older. We are women. We are men. We are citizens. We are dreamers.
“Out of many, we are one. That’s what makes America a great country, and no matter what kind of haters are trying to divide us, we’re not going to let anyone take that away from us, not now, not ever. This is the United States of America….
“So on this first day, let us commit to the American dream, a dream that promises that if you work hard and play by the rules, you should be able to provide a comfortable living for yourself and for your family, educate your children, purchase a home, and one day retire with grace and dignity.”
In this moment of transition, he said, the American people want to know what direction the Congress will choose. The Democrats offer their hand to Republicans to find common ground, Jeffries said, but “we will never compromise our principles. House Democrats will always put American values over autocracy…benevolence over bigotry, the Constitution over the cult, democracy over demagogues, economic opportunity over extremism, freedom over fascism, governing over gaslighting, hopefulness over hatred, inclusion over isolation, justice over judicial overreach, knowledge over kangaroo courts, liberty over limitation, maturity over Mar-a-Lago, normalcy over negativity, opportunity over obstruction, people over politics, quality of life issues over QAnon, reason over racism, substance over slander, triumph over tyranny, understanding over ugliness, voting rights over voter suppression, working families over the well-connected, xenial over xenophobia, ‘yes, we can’ over ‘you can’t do it,’ and zealous representation over zero-sum confrontation. We will always do the right thing by the American people.”

These are words I can applaud; I believe you should do so as well. I think being a minority leader for the next two years will be an unenviable position, especially since the opposition seems to have no thoughts of making America better. McCarthy gave an acceptance speech, as well. In contrast to Jeffries, his was not uplifting. Especially since his party promised to interfere with investigations, threatened to defund the FBI and IRS, and promised investigations about the COVID virus and of civil servants such as Dr. Fauci. His party promised investigations of President Biden’s son Hunter, who has no governmental role, and impeachments of the President (for no particular reason, I guess) and his Homeland Security Secretary over immigration. They promise an investigation over the withdrawal from Afghanistan even though the date had been set and contracted by Biden’s predecessor.

There were few mentions in McCarthy’s speech about what Congress might do to strengthen our country, and make our citizens healthier and our children better educated. He said nothing about resolving our differences as a genuine leader should do; he spoke only to the party base. There were questions about continued funding for Ukraine; indeed, many Republicans supported Putin previously, along with other autocrats such as Orban of Hungary. He thanked the former president for his support.

McCarthy is a leader in name only, a hollow man who stands for nothing and can count on no one. The minority factions have silenced the two hundred members who stood with him over multiple ballots. Where is the discipline of a strong caucus? Over the next two years, I don't think there will be much substance from the House, but I hope we can keep our narrow majority in the Senate and forestall the worst of what the House may send over as bills. I am thankful that the lame-duck Congress passed the budget. When raising the debt ceiling next comes due, I worry about what might happen. We shall see,

There is now a fight to choose a new Republican Party leader even though Ronna Romney McDaniel has given in to the MAGA faction time after time, there is a MAGA challenger for her office.

As this is being written, supporters of former Brazilian leader Bolsonaro, who was defeated in a recent election, stormed the government buildings in Brazil’s capital. Hundreds have been arrested, and officials dispersed many others. Bolsonaro, an autocrat, was also favored by the former president and was said to have been advised by Steve Bannon and others to not accept the results of the election which he lost on a run-off. He is now in Florida, supposedly for a visit.

‘Til next week-Peace!