Just a few days after Rep. MARJORIE TAYLOR GREENE called KEVIN MCCARTHY “weak” and said he needed to earn her vote to become speaker, the Republican lawmaker from Georgia took a different tone toward the GOP leader Friday night. “I just got off a good call with @GOPLeader,” she tweeted. “We spent time talking about solving problems not only in the conference, but for our country. I like what he has planned ahead.”
A few points this morning on MTG’s latest missive and McCarthy’s long-term bid for speaker:
1) This isn’t the end of this saga. It appears that MTG is just beginning to understand the depth of her power over McCarthy, who has been angling for years to become speaker. She has DONALD TRUMP’S ear and the following of about a dozen House rabble-rousers. She’s clearly starting to see that any time she doesn’t like something McCarthy does, all she has to do is call foul and lord his speakership dreams over his head. It’s going to be a very, very long year ahead for the House GOP leader.
2) What did McCarthy say to her? MTG had been pushing for McCarthy to strip committee assignments from Republicans who voted for the bipartisan infrastructure deal and/or to impeach Trump. That’s something McCarthy has declined to do (for now) — not least because that could lead to a serious math problem: If he turned on his moderate members and they bailed on his speakership effort, that could very well end his shot at the gavel. Yet MTG said, “I like what he has planned.” We’re curious what that is.
3) Trump is the wild card. For months, McCarthy has banked on his relationship with Trump to save him from the GOP conference’s fringe flank and help him win the gavel when the moment comes. It’s one of several reasons he visited Mar-a-Lago so quickly after January 6 despite his stated belief that Trump was personally responsible for the attack on the Capitol that left several people dead. If Trump gets behind him — or so the McCarthy calculation goes — members like MTG won’t be a problem. We’ll see.
There is a very good possibility that Marge (or an emissary) are in touch with Trump on this. Trump doesn’t trust his Kevin and is known to play off his people against each other. But either way, this gives Marge power. Not good.