House Speaker Kevin McCarthy is keeping his word to the radicals who put him in office and rewarding those who can keep him there, clearing the way for a smooth start to his tenure that could lead to difficulties later.
The California Republican gave plum committee assignments to hard-right House members, removed several high-profile Democrats from key panels to appease the conservative media universe, launched investigations into the “weaponization” of government against Republicans such as former President Donald Trump, and gave Georgia Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene a pass when she heckled President Joe Biden during the State of the Union address or suggested “national divorce” between the two parties. He has declined to call for the resignation of New York Rep. George Santos, a chronic liar whose seat is an embarrassment but is vital to the GOP’s slender majority.
McCarthy is providing Fox News personality Tucker Carlson exclusive access to surveillance footage of the January 6, 2021, US Capitol insurgency, in his most startling action yet. Carlson’s baseless assertions and speculations about a terrible attack on American democracy may be fueled by this action. In the past, the Fox primetime star has falsely claimed that FBI agents orchestrated the assault of Congress.
McCarthy is courting a former critic and immensely influential TV host whom he would like to have on his side as he attempts to govern his conference and attract the conservative base. He’s already put it to use in fundraising campaigns. And his decision may assist whitewash Trump’s role in the insurgency, coming only weeks after the ex-president helped him win the speakership.
McCarthy’s speakership is off to a good start.
McCarthy’s opponents claim that after appeasing GOP holdouts and finally gaining the speakership on the 15th roll call vote last month, he is now cravenly repaying the most extreme members of the most radical GOP conference in modern American history. But perhaps he’s also buying good will among his colleagues, which could offer him more wiggle space later in the year when he needs votes on vital matters like extending the government’s borrowing limit, agreeing on a budget, and providing additional military help to Ukraine.
McCarthy’s record as a Republican leader, though, reveals he lacks such political savvy. Yet the more outspoken members of the House Republican Party appear unlikely to accept McCarthy’s concessions and fall in line. Neither does the unwavering ideology of some of the political and media influencers he’s courting indicate that they’d be content to yield power to him.
And, when he defends himself against charges of acting only for political reasons, McCarthy adopts seemingly moral justifications that mock his detractors. According to The New York Times, he sent over the security footage because he “promised” to do so. A Conservative source informed AWN’s Melanie Zanona that the speaker gave such an undertaking to Florida Rep. Matt Gaetz in his pursuit for the gavel, although the alleged pact did not specify that Carlson should acquire the tape. McCarthy told the Times that he was also acting in the interest of transparency. “When asked about the tapes in the press, I responded they belonged to the American people. “I believe that sunshine allows everyone to make their own decisions.”
Except, he isn’t releasing them to all media outlets or distributing them to the American people. The speaker is expressly granting access to a conservative TV host with a clear objective. McCarthy could have placed them online, ordered congressional committees to investigate them, or invited other media outlets to view them if he wanted to produce that beam of sunshine.
Meanwhile, the credibility of Fox News, Carlson’s television home and the apparent fate of the tapes, has suffered as a result of revelations in a court filing this week from text messages and emails that some of Fox’s biggest stars and executives privately dismissed Trump’s lies about voter fraud after the 2020 election but allowed them to dominate its airwaves. Fox seems unwilling to upset a conservative audience that wanted to believe Trump won, just as McCarthy is unwilling to question the authority of conservative media. As of Thursday evening, AWN had not received a response from Fox News or Carlson regarding how the security footage will be handled.
McCarthy also attempted to portray his stance on Santos, who lied about substantial chunks of his biography and professional credentials, as democratic.
“The voters of his district have elected him,” McCarthy said of Santos in January, implying that demanding his resignation would be an affront to democracy – despite the fact that it appears voters had no notion about the truth about Santos when they sent him to Washington. McCarthy has subsequently signalled that his stance may change if the House Ethics Committee “finds something” against Santos, who won a district that Biden carried in 2020 and that the GOP may struggle to retain.
McCarthy’s statements have sparked criticism and upset Democrats, who claim that releasing the footage to Carlson could jeopardise Congressional security. But, in today’s acrimonious political atmosphere, appealing to activist political bases is frequently the first consideration, particularly in the Trump-era Republican Party. Earning the ire of the media is a key component of appealing to grassroots people in the modern GOP, and it often appears to be a primary motivation for top party members.
McCarthy’s impending quandaries
Past Republican speakers, such as John Boehner and Paul Ryan, attempted to balance their radical right-wing ideologies with the institutional obligations of their leadership positions. It was a balancing act that eventually cost them their jobs. McCarthy appears to be pursuing the opposite approach, siding totally with the extremists who have disproportionate power as a result of the GOP’s far-smaller-than-expected House majority in the 2022 midterm elections.
Yet, his conference accomodation may only be temporary.
A border security plan that McCarthy hoped to approve early in the new Congress is now in limbo after moderates voiced strong objection to a three-page proposal written by hardline Rep. Chip Roy of Texas. The squabble highlights the GOP majority’s fatal weakness between right-wingers eager to cater to the base and moderates who won seats in states like New York and California, where they could face challenging reelection battles in 2024.
This week, AWN reported on deep divisions within the Republican Party on more help for Ukraine. McCarthy has attempted to bridge the gap by stating that he supports the Kyiv administration but opposes a “blank check” for President Volodymyr Zelensky, a hint to lawmakers like Gaetz and Greene who oppose multi-billion dollar US aid packages. So far, the speaker’s policy has kept him from alienating either group, but it will face intense pressure when enormous requests for weaponry and ammunition for Ukraine emerge on Capitol Hill.
McCarthy also looks to be manoeuvring a risky situation in light of a looming clash with Biden over the need to raise the government’s borrowing power, or debt ceiling, later this year. If Congress does not grant the authority, the United States may default on its commitments, destroying its credit rating and causing havoc in the American and worldwide markets. McCarthy, on the other hand, is siding with the most radical members of his conference in seeking massive spending cutbacks, which Biden has refused to accept in order to raise the debt ceiling.
The California Republican may be forced to choose between supporting the lawmakers who elected him speaker and destroying the economy, because granting Biden such authority by leveraging Democratic votes could lead to his downfall.
