It’s being discussed whether the cable news networks are going to start running countdown clocks as we go into the last seven days of the political drama going on in the House of Representatives. This is the House that Newt built. It’s not a good and sturdy House, and when he built it, it wasn’t designed to be. It was designed for expedience. Gingrich got the ball rolling that led to Sarah Palin and the Tea Party that led to Trump and MAGA, that led to this moment. Now Newt Gingrich’s creation is falling down around everybody’s ears. So he was asked to go on Fox News and give his opinion.
Gingrich: There are one or two like Congressman Gaetz who I think is frankly deranged… pic.twitter.com/THIOM6J09k
— Acyn (@Acyn) September 23, 2023
I’ll tell you what baffles the hell out of me about Matt Gaetz. He supposedly has the support of the military. Then why oh why, would he want to antagonize them? The way things are going now, minus some mechanism that even Gingrich can’t seem to divine, two million military personnel, along with two million civilian workers and millions of federal workers are going to get delayed paychecks, when and if the government shuts down, according to the Associated Press.
Why bite the hand that votes for you? Plus, Politico Platbook says that the shutdown “adds another risk to the economy on top of the UAW strike, the Oct. 1 resumption of student loan repayments and rising gas prices.” And this is from the party of fiscal responsibility, we are asked to believe?
Do any members of the current iteration of the Freedom Caucus understand how any of this works, how the dots connect? Apparently Gingrich doesn’t think so. He says they can’t even play tic tac toe.
Gingrich: We have some members who not only can’t play chess or checkers, they can’t play tic tac toe. pic.twitter.com/VTsU9ibZ2v
— Acyn (@Acyn) September 23, 2023
This is an exercise in stupidity. Nobody wins, as even Hannity points out. There is nothing to be gained here. Now here’s an interesting spin on how Kevin McCarthy could persuade his rebellious allies.
WaPo columnist Henry Olsen has some intriguing advice for how McCarthy could get tough with the rebels: “Target their political aspirations,” he writes, noting that Rep. MATT ROSENDALE (R-Mont.) is eyeing a Senate run and Rep. MATT GAETZ (R-Fla.) is looking at a 2026 run to succeed Gov. RON DeSANTIS.
“McCarthy can damage those plans by setting a clear threshold for when a person can be removed from the conference and from their committee assignments for defying the overwhelming will of the party,” Olsen suggests — setting aside the question of whether getting expelled from the House GOP would be a hindrance or a help in a Republican primary.
McCarthy doesn’t have the mind nor the temperament for that kind of hardball approach. He’s not even good at warning people about censure. I don’t see him going this route, although it might be a tremendous aid to his caucus to have a leader that strong. But McCarthy is not it. McCarthy is the Speaker in title and that’s the end of it.
Mr Olsen’s advice comes about 13 years too late. The GOP had the chance to cut off these morons in 2010 (when the “Freedom Caucus” was known as the “Tea Party”) and tell them to heed Fleetwood Mac’s advice and “go your own way.” BUT, the GOP was more concerned about the possibility of *gasp!* losing the 2010 elections–and maybe falling behind the teabaggers in terms of political strength so the National GOP gave in to the extremists which allowed the GOP to retake the House and get very close to retaking the Senate. And, as we’ve seen since 2016, the GOP “moderates” continue to vote the party line on virtually every issue, even though they might make the odd pretense of *maybe* voting against the party line. Then, when push comes to shove, the GOP primary voters tend to be the most extreme voters so the most radical candidates get moved forward to the general election and the “moderate” or “real conservative” voters (who claim to place economic, instead of social, issues at the top of their concerns) wind up just going in and voting for the general election candidate with the “R” behind their name.