Not to sound like an old Carson joke setup, but….
It is a mystery just how much of their own BS the hardest right among the Republican House caucus believes. They really, really dislike their own party establishment. That’s something activists on both sides of the aisle can appreciate. What they do about it is something else. Especially with Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene of Georgia is now backing Rep. Kevin McCarthy in his failing bid for Speaker. McCarthy failed to secure the votes to win three times on Tuesday. There is more fun to come this afternoon.
CNN’s Jake Tapper offered some praise for Greene’s willingness to back the majority of her caucus, while contributor Jonah Goldberg condemned the holdouts (Mediaite):
“They’re nihilists,” he said before ripping Rep. Matt Gaetz (R-FL), a leading anti-McCarthy voice. “Most of these guys are performative people. Matt Gaetz is an illiterate.”
Dana Bash asked Goldberg if the speakership drama speaks to a broader problem with the Republican Party.
“Isn’t this actually an illustration and indicative of what is happening more broadly nationally with the Republican Party?” she queried. “Not that there aren’t true conservatives and authentic Republicans who believe in that credo, but that they are being hijacked time and time again, election after election by this minority because that’s who comes out and votes in primaries and so forth.”
They are so fringe that Tapper commented, “Taylor Greene is the voice of reason here.”
That alone should be enough to make you question which side of the looking glass you woke up on.
Without a Speaker, nothing else can happen. No one was sworn in Tuesday, no matter what the press release from Representative-elect George Santos said. At least he wasn’t the only incoming freshman issuing premature announcements of taking office.
Other Republicans piled on the Never Kevin faction, reports Jim Newell at Slate:
Some members are charlatans who just want to raise money and extort McCarthy into giving them committee slots they don’t deserve. Others genuinely do want rules changes that they believe would make it easier to rein in government spending. What makes this difficult for McCarthy, though, is that a core bloc of the 20 rebels just don’t trust the guy. McCarthy has served in leadership with Speakers Boehner and Ryan, who were often in conflict with the far-right elements of their caucus.
“I will not support anyone for speaker that has played a part in the leadership team over the last 10 years, that has managed the demise of our country, over the last 10 years,” Montana Rep. Matt Rosendale, a staunch holdout, told reporters Tuesday.
Bottom line? They don’t trust McCarthy. He’s “someone who has sold shares of himself for more than a decade” in seeking the Speakership, said Florida Rep. Matt Gaetz in a nominating speech for Rep. Jim Jordan of Ohio. Jordan does not want the job. He gave a nominating speech for McCarthy in the second round.
The hard-line holdouts made demands, to which McCarthy would only agree in limited fashion. But with each compromise, he simply proves to the them he is not worthy of the job. And if the holdouts agree to compromise, they prove themselves insufficiently rigid to carry forward the antidemocratic MAGA faith.
The circus restarts at noon ET today.