Why McCarthy Just Doesn’t Matter

While some have engaged in outright hysteria about the ouster of former House Speaker Kevin McCarthy (R-CA-23), “If you want to know what it looks like when democracy is in trouble, this is what it looks like. It should set off alarm bells that something is not right.” So says Daniel Ziblatt, a Harvard professor of government, quoted by Sarah Ellison in the October 4^th Washington Post.

What academic nonsense.

There is no Constitutional crisis, no conspiracy, no seditious behavior, no war, no pandemic or financial meltdown – it was a simple House procedural vote.

Period.

Congressman McCarthy, as we all know by now, was a victim of his own deal to win the Speaker post to allow a rule to permit one person – not five, not ten, and so forth – call the Motion to Vacate the Chair, thus leading to the Speaker essentially being fired by the will of eight Republicans and 208 Democrats on Tuesday, October 3^rd. The eight, including their leader, Matt Gaetz of Florida; Andy Biggs of Arizona; Ken Buck of Colorado; Tim Burchett of Tennessee; Eli Crane of Arizona; Bob Good of Virginia; Nancy Mace of South Carolina and Matt Rosendale of Montana. Four Democrats and three Republicans did not vote – a final count of 216-210. All 210 nays were Republicans, essentially voting to support McCarthy.

The Speaker Emeritus now has the distinction of being the first person to be removed from high office by such a motion in the House in United States history. So, McCarthy gets a spot in the government and civics curriculum with impeached presidents, judges and other recalled or other appointed or elected officials so removed for no confidence or crime, fairly or not. It's a shame, really, as McCarthy truly was a stalwart for his party in fundraising and the national stage, with many in his party giving him credit for his leadership during this 117th Congress. Obviously that was not enough.

Yet all of this will be totally forgotten in the coming weeks as McCarthy returns to the rank and file of the very GOP Conference he led. While he will certainly maintain a presence with past funds raised and goodwill from members of his inner circle – that influence will wane significantly in the coming months as he is no longer in power. To think otherwise is naive in Washington.

While the most likely impulsive decision to remove Speaker Emerita Pelosi from her coveted near the House floor office has been attributed to McCarthy retribution for non-support by the congresswoman during this time, it's certainly a petty gotcha to exit on especially when headed to the back bench. Have some dignity.

Wednesday with Dana Bash on CNN, GOP pollster Frank Luntz asked “What is the cause?” Further adding the American people do not understand why he was forced out after McCarthy kept the government open. While Mr. Luntz is certainly correct most GOP grassroots voters and the general public do not want the government to shut down – most polls show Americans continue to be deeply concerned with food, gas, electricity and the general cost of living being astronomically higher than pre-pandemic levels. This has risen to a point where not only are the general public living paycheck to paycheck, but they are going deeper into debt to afford daily, everyday expenses. These folks are not going out to dinner – they are struggling to put food on the table and couldn't care less about who holds the speaker's gavel. As Luntz indicated, the public just wants Washington to work for them – but rest assured that moving on from McCarthy to the next speaker is not on their minds. Far from it.

Speaking of working for the public – the House was supposed to be in recess these two weeks for “district work” – so, while yes, House legislative work cannot officially be done until a new speaker is elected, the body was supposedly not going to be in session. So now, the GOP Conference gets to spend what should amount to interesting quality time together to select a new speaker of the House of Representatives – and then tackle the issue, once again, of keeping the government open, which an overwhelming number of the general public support.

So when other so-called professors and pundits call McCarthy's inconsequential ouster a “threat to our democracy” let us remind ourselves that a former president is being prosecuted by a deeply troubled and politicized Justice Department; a ten-plus year stall of investigation into the current president's finances involving his son and family, only being brought to light by a gun charge and an independent counsel investigation; and the non-prosecution and release of career and violent criminals on our streets for the sake of misguided social justice principles – therein is the true threat. And it is real. We are witness to it in our own time. Democracy is at risk – but not over who is Speaker.

This will all be in the past next week. It will be forgotten very quickly in D.C. as Boehner, Ryan, Wright, and whoever else from “Speakers past,” great legislative accomplishments or not. McCarthy and Pelosi will fade, and we will have a new speaker, and his name is Jim Jordan.

The opinions expressed in this article are those of the author and do not necessarily reflect the positions of American Liberty News.

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