The United States House of Representatives remains without a Speaker of the House. It’s been that way for more than a week. And somehow, your life has gone on.
Crazy, right?
So there is a lot I want to say about the situation. And I haven’t really played this out in my head prior to writing — so I’m going to hope it flows and worry about it later.
First, I believe vacating the chair was totally worth it. Speaker Kevin McCarthy has a very poor voting record and simply isn’t a conservative. He is someone who Congressman Steve King maintains cannot be trusted. He is someone who clearly has wanted the job of Speaker for a long time.
I could get into specifics, but at the end of the day, I believe this historic shake-up is a good thing for Washington D.C. politicians who are clearly out of touch with Republican voters.
Second, Republicans should stop letting this play out in private meetings. Whoever becomes Speaker of the House is third in line for the presidency. It is an important position, especially considering the age of our current Commander-in-Chief.
I know that moderate, establishment Republicans prefer hiding behind secret votes so their grassroots supporters don’t find out they’re supporting the less conservative choice for Speaker, but that isn’t how the process should work.
Representative Ann Wagner claims that Congressman Jim Jordan gave a really bad concession speech the other day when he lost to Rep. Steve Scalise by less than 20 votes. The People, though, have no idea what the truth is because we weren’t privy to the speech. Or any of the speeches. Or the votes. Or anything.
Many of the Republicans who supported Jordan were public about their support. In fact, I believe more than half declared they were supporting him prior to the other day.
Only about 15 of the 113 Republicans who supported Scalise had done the same.
If they truly believe Scalise is the best person for the job, declare it publicly. If they truly believe it, they should be more than willing — and ready — to defend it.
So, even though I disagree with Representatives Ashley Hinson and Mariannette Miller-Meeks on Scalise being the best person for the job, I do appreciate their honesty, transparency and courage. It is too bad Representatives Randy Feenstra and Zach Nunn haven’t followed that example.
Keep in mind this is at least the second time Feenstra has kept his leadership vote secret. Shortly after entering office Feenstra had to vote on whether former Congresswoman Liz Cheney should keep her leadership position. Both Hinson and Miller-Meeks again admitted publicly they supported her. Feenstra refused to answer (which, spoiler, is an answer).
This debate and this vote should be hashed out publicly. They are our employees. We deserve to know what the reasons are for not being willing to support someone. After all, they are electing leadership that will represent us seeing as we gave them the majority.
It is obvious that conservative grassroots Republicans want Jim Jordan to be the next Speaker. Poll after poll shows this. And Jordan deserves it with his voting record.
Yet there will undoubtedly be moderate Republicans who think Jordan is too confrontational or too conservative for the position. They too can make that case publicly.
This should go without saying, but I firmly believe it would be wise not to select someone from McCarthy’s group to claim his former role. I think it is important for not just a new Speaker, but a new way of thinking to emerge.
Simply removing McCarthy to allow everyone else to advance up the ladder one rung doesn’t make sense.
There was no doubt an enormous amount of political capital spent by the eight Republicans who voted to vacate the chair. Again, I believe it was well worth it. But not for us to end up with a Speaker cut from the same cloth of McCarthy.
Honestly, how much worse could a conservative Speaker be? I mean, we’re sitting at just over $33 trillion in debt. We have sent check after check to Ukraine. We have an open border. Major cities in the country cannot contain criminals. Democrats are weaponizing the Justice Department against their political opponents.
I could go on, but I think the point is made.
Finally, two more points…
First, I’m amazed that there are people in the House who still think Kevin McCarthy should be reinstalled as Speaker. It is a fact that the Speaker of the House does not have to be a member of Congress. That means it could be one of millions and millions and millions of people. Yet some of them appear to believe Kevin McCarthy is the only person in America suited to be Speaker.
And second, Jordan was endorsed by President Donald J. Trump. So let’s not lose sight of the fact that with House Republicans picking someone else, it is a thumb in the eye of Trump.
It is time for Republicans to abandon the apologetic conservatism of the past and instead embrace the conservative base. Reward the conservative base for sticking with so many moderate, establishment Republicans despite the constant record of disappointment.
Give the conservative base what it wants. Give Jordan a try as Speaker. Maybe, just maybe, returning (or arriving for the first time) to our conservative roots will have better results than DC politics as usual.
