Donald Trump once told his ecstatic rally goers his philosophy of life:
My whole life, you know what I say? ‘Don’t worry about it, I’ll just figure it out.’”
It’s worked for him up until now.
As it happens one of his top proteges, “My Kevin” McCarthy has adopted the same attitude. Punchbowl reports:
Speaker Kevin McCarthy’s long-term strategy is this — he has no long-term strategy.
The California Republican has shown, to a remarkable degree, that his day-to-day, week-to-week style in running the House is to essentially push through — to just keep dancing — and deal with problems as they come. Get through today and worry about what happens next when it happens.
McCarthy won the speaker’s gavel in January after 15 grueling rounds of voting, granting a host of concessions to the conservatives in the process. These promises put McCarthy on a collision course with President Joe Biden and the Democrats over the debt limit, yet McCarthy had finally become speaker, his longtime goal.
McCarthy then cut a deal with Biden to set FY2024 spending levels in order to defuse the debt-limit crisis, only to reverse direction just weeks later when conservatives complained. The $100 billion-plus difference in spending levels could result in a government shutdown in the fall — but McCarthy will have to deal with it then.
Just this week, McCarthy derailed an attempt to impeach Biden by redirecting the effort to some House committees. Eventually that bill will come due; a huge chunk of House Republicans want to launch a quixotic effort to remove the president from office.
McCarthy is fully cognizant of the “Do-whatever-it-takes” dynamic — and he even seems to relish it. McCarthy has privately remarked to aides and reporters that he has to “keep on dancing.” On Thursday, McCarthy exited the House floor saying that he got through another week.
When we remarked to McCarthy that his approach to governing seemed to be just keep moving, he said this:
“But the scenario is every week, you build on the next week. So it gives you guys news. In the beginning of the week, you think something’s going to fail and then we survive and we make it to the next week.”
“Live to fight another day?” McCarthy was asked.
“That’s right,” McCarthy said. “Never give up.”
All party leaders on the Hill need the ability to keep moving. And they must lack a conscience in certain ways, too. The secret of congressional deal making is that today’s friend is tomorrow’s foe and vice versa. This year’s principled stand may be completely changed next year, depending on whether one is in the majority or minority.
But the criticism of McCarthy has always been that he lacks a clear ideological agenda. He’s broadly conservative, of course, but McCarthy isn’t wed to any specific legislative goals. This is particularly the complaint from the House Freedom Caucus and other conservatives. They see McCarthy as more interested in power than principle. It was the reason behind the recent floor rebellion by conservatives.
McCarthy, for his part, believes he’s constantly been underestimated. He and his allies repeat this word over and over again in describing the California Republican. His frequent refrain: No one believed he’d recover from being denied the speakership in 2015. No one thought he’d lead Republicans to the majority in 2022. No one thought he’d actually win the floor fight to become speaker. No one thought he could get a debt-limit deal with Biden. And no one believes he’ll be able to keep all the balls in the air for the entire 118th Congress.
“Every time I walk out, you tell me … ‘Are you going to get the bill? Are you going to be thrown out?’” McCarthy told reporters gathered outside of his office once during the debt-limit fight. “I kind of like it. You guys are worried every day.”
Also today in McCarthy world: McCarthy and NRCC Chair Richard Hudson will hand out more than $6 million in checks to the GOP’s targeted members.
McCarthy is contributing $3.7 million to the effort, while another $2 million is from member-to-member contributions, which were collected by the entire leadership.
McCarthy has transferred $13.5 million to the NRCC during the last six months and $8.5 million to members.
Over this recess, McCarthy will be in 15 cities in 14 days. He’ll start in New Jersey and New York this weekend, before spending all of next week in Ohio for political and official events
He’s always been a good fundraiser. In fact it’s the only thing he’s ever been good at and it’s why he’s the speaker. If there was anyone else who wanted the hell job with this caucus and a slim majority he’d be gone already.