There’s been a lot of talk about popcorn and the hilarity of Kevin McCarthy’s humiliation. Honestly, I find all the chaos and nihilism and ignoring of the responsibility to govern just plain sad.
While the past few days have yet again revealed a #GOP incapable of governance, the big question for #Democrats and #HakeemJeffries is how or whether they should help?
The truism which dictates not taking the gun away when your opponent is shooting him/herself in the foot usually applies. However, is their an opportunity for the Dems here?
#KevinMcCarthy is not close to considering a deal in exchange for Dems support. That might change in a week
@mnutty @StevenBeschloss A worrisome problem in waiting a week is that during the week he can make deals with the 20, and then the fringe ends up with outsized control over Congress. The current situation may be the majority party''s mess, but how it resolves impacts us all.
@kgarrahan @StevenBeschloss No doubt that is certainly a possible outcome. #KevinMcCarthy has been resisting capitulating to the crazies for months now. Should he give in, he’ll never be done with them. His fear has to be, party members shifting and coalescing around another candidate. Not much evidence of that yet. The situation is both embarrassing and volatile
@mnutty @kgarrahan @StevenBeschloss
I think it's more realistic to think about it the other way around: by the rules of the House this whole process is in the hands of the representatives-elect, so it's not so much about McCarthy fearing but rather reps thinking he's best for the job and not giving up yet.
Remember that the House doesn't have things like declared candidacy. The process is based on nomination.
Think of this as bottom up, not top down.
@StevenBeschloss @volkris @kgarrahan
So here’s my take on what’s going on. Some of the objectors are looking for concessions from #KevinMcCarthy in exchange for their vote. These concessions being sought may not be consistent with their constituents. Indeed voters for each of these reps may have chosen to vote in favor of their candidacy simply based on party affiliation. We don’t know if voters in the districts would or would not vote for McCarthy
@mnutty @StevenBeschloss @kgarrahan
Yep, and hopefully every member's constituents will be accurately informed about the member's actions and hold them accountable in the next election.
(I won't hold my breath about that)
Anyway, one thing to keep in mind is that the Speaker doesn't work for the general public, the vast majority of which has no idea how the work of the speaker goes at all. He works for the members of the House, which is why they elect him and why we don't.
And they are in a position to hold the speaker much more accountable than we will tend to hold our own representatives accountable, sadly enough.
@volkris @kgarrahan @StevenBeschloss
I think you’re shining a light on the current state of our politics which is more red vs blue tribalism rather that an issue oriented approach. Some of the more disreputable elected types spend their time pandering to this kind of binaryism which I think of performance politics. I think a lot of what we’ve been seeing the last few days falls performative bucket rather than a bona fide attempt to represent constituents