Mr. Speaker

By now you have seen the dumpster fire that is the Republican party in the U.S. House of Representatives. After 15 ballots and the nationally televised embarrassment of being blackmailed by back benchers in his own party, Kevin McCarthy finally achieved his life-long dream, the speaker’s gavel.

In the old days, meaning just last week, that gavel made the speaker of the House second in line to the presidency, the first or second phone call from the White House, and a key voice in shaping the policy agenda for the country. 

But in the past week, McCarthy and his aides have sold the job to a small group of nihilistic, political terrorists in the Republican party, shrinking the once hallowed Speaker position to a mere functionary

We don’t know all of the concessions made by McCarthy. What we do know is the speaker of the U.S House is now under the thumb of people who don’t care about governing the country. 

We know McCarthy agreed to allow anyone to call for a snap vote on whether he should remain speaker. We know he gave the far right several seats on the House Rules committee, an unknown but powerful panel that executes the speaker’s agenda and sets the schedule for voting on bills. 

We also know that McCarthy’s leading partner in power is Majorie Taylor-Greene, the hateful extremist who was stripped of her committee memberships by the House for supporting violence against Democrats, questioning the existence of the 9-11 attacks and berating school shooting survivors. Greene looks to be in line for a seat on the House Oversight committee, which will be launching investigations into a long list of Republican bogeyman issues that have little to do with governing.

This will include investigating Dr. Anthony Fauci over his handling of COVID, Hunter Biden and President Biden himself. 

We are now guaranteed a stream of angry videos featuring Taylor-Greene and her compatriots on Fox News and Twitter focusing on one thing - being on Fox News and Twitter. 

That is where we have arrived in the age of the Internet. Politicians understand that being on TV and social media is an end in itself. It leads to paid speaking gigs, corporate board seats and celebrity. Marjorie Taylor-Greene is the Kim Kardashian of the political set. She doesn’t care about the country - celebrity is the goal.

But the McCarthy speakership comes with real dangers beyond the growing celebrity of the vain and corrupt. To win the speakership, McCarthy has given away most of his power. We know the bulk of his concessions. But it’s what we don’t know that scares me. Specifically, I suspect McCarthy has promised the far-right wingers that he will oppose any raising of the debt-ceiling.

There is a healthy argument to have about the federal government’s debt and the role Republicans have played in cutting corporate taxes which balloons our budget deficit. The debt ceiling is not a time for this debate. The debt ceiling is a must pass bill that allows the government to continue functioning. Failure to increase the debt ceiling means the government defaults on its obligations and must shut down. 

We have done this before - famously in the late 1990s.

Back then, a Georgia Congressman named Newt Gingrich was the speaker of the House. Gingrich famously came to power promising not to compromise with Democrats. He shut down the government in a standoff with then President Bill Clinton.  

Shutting the government down is a loser for everyone and an economic disaster. It cost Gingrich the speaker position and his career. 

It means no Social Security payments, veterans benefits, road and bridge repair - not to mention a further decline in U.S. standing throughout the world. 

But you don’t need to take my word for it. 

“If everything we’re seeing is a symptom of a totally splintered House Republican conference that is going to be unable to come together with 218 votes on virtually any issue, it tells you that the odds of getting to the 11th hour or the last minute or whatever are very high.’’

That’s Alec Phillips, the chief political economist for Goldman Sachs Research in an interview with the New York Times. 

McCarthy has proven he is a politician with no core values but he knows another economic disaster looms if he can’t raise the debt ceiling this summer. 

As I have said many times, McCarthy and the Republicans are the dog that caught the car. That car is now in flames, ready to burn anyone in its path. 

McCarthy is the lead dog for now but he is being led around on a very tight leash by a group of people who don’t care about the American government. They just want to burn it down.