McCarthy sells the Speakership to the worst of his caucus

or Buckle up for 2 years of chaos caucus rule

What did Kevin McCarthy give up to become the 55th Speaker of the House after 14 failed tries?

Basically the power of being Speaker.

Anyone under the rules the GOP controlled House has adopted can move to oust him as Speaker — one Republican can force a vote on McCarthy’s tenure at any time. Traditionally, the mark is set at whatever your partisan edge is plus one or more. For example, if you have 222, it should take 5 or more members (222-218 +1) and often party caucuses set 10% of its members or higher as the mark for a vote of no confidence to take place.

Two of the seats on the the Rules Committe will be given to members of the Freedom caucus (Tea Party acolytes). Speakers usually want a firm grip on the floor procedure for passage of the party’s agenda. That is gone. The already being touted predictions of House dysfunctionality center on this.

McCarthy also agreed to no limits on spending bill amendments. None.

But the real political cost of McCarthy’s speakership is preventing his PAC from opposing far-Right primary candidacies. That means more Biggs, Gosars, Gaetzes, Boeberts, and Perrys. The foregoing (along with the rest of the 20 GOP members who opposed McCarthy) all hailed from barn red districts.¹

Now, McCarthy cannot contain the chaos caucus and he cannot prevent that caucus from ousting more mainstream Republicans.

But McCarthy brought this on himself on January 6th, 2021 in a rare moment of honesty and political realism.

When the insurrectionist rioters were trying to breach the House chamber and various congressional offices, Minority Leader Kevin Mcarthy made a phone call to President Trump. McCarthy called President Trump in a panic screaming that the rioters were trying to kill him and others.

Trump’s response “Well, Kevin, I guess these people are more upset about the election than you are.”

McCarthy’as reply was curt and to the point “Upset? They are fucking trying to kill me.”

And attempts to brush McCarthy’s sense of the situation was met with McCarthy telling Trump “Who the fuck do you think you are talking to?”

In the hours and days after January 6th, McCarthy stated he thought Trump should resign.

Two years later he faced another moment of political realism — he needed the Freedom Caucus and its Trumpists more than they needed him. And he just sold his leadership of the GOP House to make 20 election deniers happy.

1. https://fivethirtyeight.com/features/20-house-republicans-oppose-mccarthy/