To understand what happened, one must also understand that the GOP is not a conservative party. Instead, it is a center-left party that masquerades as being conservative.
The fellow we were told must be speaker of the House– Kevin McCarthy– has a New American Freedom Index rating of 60 percent lifetime; and a Liberty Score of 54% with Conservative Review. These are underwhelming numbers; and this makes one wonder about the kinds of policies he will pursue as Speaker. He has been a GOP establishment functionary for many years; and critics claim he sells off to the highest bidder.
One of the folks nominated by the Freedom Caucus members to face him was Byron Donalds– a black congressman from Florida. Donalds’ ratings are 93% and 100%, respectively– absolutely outstanding.
The series of votes that took place over the last week might have been somewhat embarrassing for the GOP. But this was McCarthy’s own fault. The matters that were negotiated should have been handled during November and December. But that did not happen.
Instead, the Freedom Caucus felt forced to oppose McCarthy, understanding what his history had been, the awful state of our nation and the horrible manner in which Congress has been run. After all, the GOP could have found a guy with ratings of 75% or 80% on the above indices, but instead the party insisted on a 55-60 percent guy.
And when the Freedom Caucus members took action, they were labeled by the GOP establishment and elements within “conservative” media as terrorists, insurrectionists and saboteurs. They were reportedly threatened in various ways by other GOP members of Congress. So many organs and voices previously regarded as “conservative” reflexively supported McCarthy against the twenty members of the Freedom Caucus.
Indeed, the leader of the Republican Jewish Coalition, that represents many major GOP large donors, reportedly blew a gasket and called the Freedom Caucus members “infidels”.
It was very difficult for the conservatives to force a replacement candidate that the GOP conference would elect because, again, the ideology of the party overall is center-left. Some of the Freedom Caucus members were inclined to negotiate and secure certain commitments regarding the manner in which the House would be run. They enjoyed enormous leverage because the pathetic GOP only secured a razor-thin majority during the November elections. The commitments they secured are reported to be as follows:
The Gateway Pundit provides another list of McCarthy’s concessions.
One particularly fascinating interaction took place last night. McCarthy was infuriated with Matt Gaetz and left his seat to walk toward the rear of the chamber where Gaetz was sitting to confront him. They were having a heated discussion and Gaetz was pointing his finger repeatedly at McCarthy. Then, an infuriated Mike Rogers, the GOP congressman from Alabama, emerged in order to approach Gaetz and was physically restrained by NC congressman Richard Hudson:
Mike Rogers is a “national security” Republican. He has a 57% lifetime New American Freedom Index rating and a 61% Conservative Review Liberty Score.
It is very interesting that the establishment Republicans like McCarthy and Rogers almost never initiate public confrontations with the socialists. But they don’t hesitate to go after the conservatives within their own party.
Matt Gaetz deserves a lot of credit for leading this effort. The big question is whether the agreements that have been made are truly enforceable legally; and whether you can truly trust someone like McCarthy– and his entire crowd– to honor those agreements. Moreover, any good legislation passed by the House would ultimately be subject to alterations in Conference Committee after Senate action. How McCarthy handles Conference Committee appointments could turn out to be a big deal.
Addendum:
What we just witnessed was democracy in action . It wasn’t pretty. The house is more representative of the citizens desires and wishes than the Senate. If you didn’t like what you saw then tuff stuff.
I know you don’t like to accept the closed-door deals that go on in politics, but this is how the sausage gets made!
Nearly everyone in the country has a smartphone, totally oblivious to the dire effects their production has on the planet and on the lives of workers who assemble them. But, as ever, people don’t want to know how the sausage gets made.
I agree, Fred. The arrogance and sense of entitlement of the GOP establishment is a sight to behold. Trump unmasked many parties and organizations, but I think this episode did, also.
Great summary, TC! Thanks for all you do.
And thank you, as always…