It Was All A Sham
The pointlessness of replacing Kevin McCarthy as Speaker is on full display with the new spending bills
After the election of Speaker Mike Johnson in October, I wrote about how the ousting of former Speaker Kevin McCarthy was a pointless endeavor.
That’s turning out to be more true by the day.
In October, I wrote:
Kevin McCarthy basically threw himself on a grenade to avert a government shutdown in September. He knew that, by coming to an agreement with House Democrats, a continuing resolution would jeopardize his Speakership. He did it anyway, a rare moment of political courage from a politician like McCarthy who is a consummate careerist.
Mike Johnson will not do such a thing. Mike Johnson. He will shut down the government, if only because he knows chuckleheads like Matt Gaetz will hold a proverbial gun to his head if he doesn’t.
Well, it turns out that last paragraph was not entirely accurate.
Perry and the Freedom Caucus were the folks who were instrumental in showing McCarthy the door. They ostensibly turfed McCarthy because of the spending agreement that kept the government open in October. So naturally, the Freedom Caucus is ready to spend even more money to keep the government open without any threats being levied at the Speaker and his continuance in office.
At least now the Freedom Caucus has exposed what they were outraged about back in October. It wasn’t about the spending; they don’t care about the spending levels now, and they sure didn‘t care about it back during the Trump years. They were outraged that Kevin McCarthy was still the Speaker and jumped at the first excuse they could get to replace him.
The entire Speaker charade back in October. It was all a sham, and this confirms it.