Tag: Kevin McCarthy

McCarthy’s Latest Hail Mary

The debt ceiling standoff is “not my fault,” Speaker Kevin McCarthy (R-CA) told reporters Wednesday, as he sent negotiators back to the White House. He said more time was needed to reach a deal (The Boston Globe).

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Civil comments are welcome from never-Trumpers and pro-MAGAs alike. 

There’s plenty of issues on which to weight in, including the shaky start to Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis’ presidential run, and Republicans’ refusal to expel Rep. George Santos (R-NY) from the House of Representatives. 

Also up for discussion:

•Nice guy Sen. Tim Scott (R-SC) beat Republican Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis by a few days in declaring his presidential campaign earlier this week. 

•The Consumer Price Index was up 4.9% in April, still too high for the Federal Reserve, but reflecting a slow and continuing improvement over last year. Meanwhile, the Labor Department reported a week earlier that the U.S. economy added 253,000 jobs in April, higher than most economists had predicted. This comes after the Fed indicated its latest quarter-point interest rate hike might be its last for a while. All these high numbers could be fond memories of our 2023 economy if Congress fails to pass a debt ceiling increase in coming weeks.

•A Manhattan court awarded E. Jean Carroll $5 million in her sexual abuse and defamation case against Donald J. Trump, who of course, will appeal.

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Social Media Fueled 1/8

Social media stoked Sunday’s attack by supporters of former President Jair Bolsonaro on Brazil’s Congressional building, federal court and presidential palace, NPR reports. The riot was organized on such outlets as Telegram and Whatsapp, often using coded language, and was livestreamed by Bolsonaro supporters on YouTube, and could be found on Facebook, TikTok and Twitter, according to a report on NPR’s Morning Edition.

Bolsonaro supporters were also cheered on January 8 by Donald J. Trump confidant and supporter Steve Bannon, as “freedom fighters.” NPR notes that Facebook is expected to announce soon whether ex-President Trump will be allowed to return to the platform. Trump’s two-year Facebook ban was up on Sunday, January 8.

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Debt Ceiling Showdown to Come?

TUESDAY 1/11/23

With a thin majority in the 118th Congress, House Republicans have no chance of getting such controversial legislation as rescinding IRS funding (see right column) through the Democratic-majority Senate and back to President Biden’s desk. But the 221 Republican members of the House can deny an increase in the federal debt ceiling necessary to pay for an already-passed budget and potentially shut the government down. After House Republicans voted to approve Speaker Kevin McCarthy's (R-CA) rules package Monday, ex-President Trump called on them to "play tough" on the debt ceiling, stoking "fears of a chaotic Congress," according to The Guardian.

That’s the sort of disruption House Democrats, as expressed by minority whip Katherine Clark of Massachusetts, fear of the concessions Rep. Kevin McCarthy (R-CA) made to secure the votes to become speaker.

“Kevin McCarthy hasn’t held the speaker’s gavel for a whole week,” Clark said, “and already he’s handed over the keys to MAGA extremists and special interests for the next two years.” 

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Feinstein Gets a Push – Sen. Dianne Feinstein (D-CA) turns 90 this coming June, and already she is the oldest member of Congress. Feinstein has filed paperwork for re-election for 2024, though she has not declared her candidacy for a sixth full term (she won a special election in 1992).

But on Monday, Rep. Katie Porter (D-CA) announced Monday she is running for U.S. Senate in 2024. California’s other U.S. senator, fellow Democrat Alex Padilla, won re-election in 2022 (California Gov. Gavin Newsom appointed him to replace Kamala Harris when she became vice president in 2021) and therefore is not up for re-election until 2028. 

--TL

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…meanwhile…

Brazil’s 1/6 on 1/8 -- Inspired by the January 6th attack on the U.S. Capitol in support of Donald J. Trump’s Big Lie, thousands of supporters of Brazil’s far-right populist ex-President Jair Bolsonaro stormed the Congressional building, federal supreme court and presidential Panalto Palace in Brasilia (Semafor, NPR and AP) Sunday, demanding military intervention to return the government to the ex-president. Security forces have since regained control, says NPR’s Morning Editon. Leftist Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva beat Bolsonaro for the presidency in a close runoff last October. 

He’s Gone to Disney World!: Bolsonaro, who has long made claims of “election fraud,” much like ex-President Trump begun well prior to the 2020 U.S. election, did not attend da Silva’s inauguration, and has been in Orlando, Florida, since at least last December, Morning Edition reports. 

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McCarthy’s Next Fight – Newly elected House Speaker Kevin McCarthy’s (R-CA) next battle was set to begin Monday night, as he faces potential opposition – this time from moderate Republicans -- against his rules package for the 118th Congress. Reps. Tony Gonzales (R-TX) and Nancy Mace (R-SC) are concerned over the concessions McCarthy had to make to hard-right MAGA House Republicans in order to get the majority vote for the speakership, including gutting the Office of Congressional Ethics, NPR’s Morning Edition says.

--Compiled and edited by Todd Lassa

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COMMENTS: editors@thehustings.news

One of These Days. . .

By Stephen Macaulay

As winter is aborning for many of us, the phrase “getting ahead of your skis” comes to mind, not as regards schussing down the east face of Jupiter Peak, but politics.

Funny thing, though.

People mainly left of center have been doing this for the past couple years, seasons notwithstanding. Snow, no snow. Off they go.

They are consistently ahead of what actually happens. It is seemingly always “This time!”

And reality is otherwise.

My colleague over on the left column concludes his piece on the convictions of the Oath Keepers for their planning of and participation in the U.S. Capitol attack on January 6 with, “Coming soon ‘The United States Versus Donald J. Trump.’”

To be sure, to see that there has actually been judicial action taken against people who are loosely associated with Trump can be encouraging to those who see Trump as a self-absorbed transactional actor who is only concerned with personal benefit and self-aggrandizement.

Make no mistake: the man has done nothing but exhibit the behavior of a parasite on the body politic. 

Does anyone imagine that he is a politician in the context of someone who espouses a codified political philosophy?

If he was so committed to making America great again, why did he exhibit behavior, behind closed doors (per the January 6 Committee) as well as on a stage at the Ellipse (on January 6), that would have taken the notion of peaceful transition of office, which has existed since Thomas Jefferson won over John Adams, and put it out in the trash like the course guide for Trump University?

No, it is always about him.

The recording of his conversation with Brad Raffensperger. The way-late “Go home. We love you” message. The Mar-a-Lago collection of documents.

These are but some of the most-recent instances when seemingly clever talking heads — many of them with law degrees not from an on-line university — claim ad nauseum on MSNBC, “Coming soon ‘The United States Versus Donald J. Trump.’” 

And it doesn’t happen.

Possibly it will happen.

But isn’t it disconcerting that the self-proclaimed “stable genius” really may be one and that all of those people who have been predicting his downfall are in need of skiing lessons?

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Trump's Still in Charge

(WED 11/30/22)

GOP Leader ‘Condemnations’ – “I don’t think anybody should be spending any time with Nick Fuentes,” House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy (R-CA) told reporters. “He has no place in the Republican Party.”

But Wait: “[H]e came out four times and condemned him, and didn’t know who he was,” McCarthy said, according to Rolling Stone.

So … If GOP leadership truly was about to leave ex-President Trump behind, as appeared to be the case following the November 8 midterms, this would have been McCarthy’s chance to lead the way.

Perhaps McConnell Then?: Sen. Mitch McConnell’s (R-KY) said this about the Trump-Fuentes-Ye Mar-a-Lago dinner, at his weekly Capitol Hill news conference Tuesday (per Axios); “There is no room in the Republican Party for antisemitism or white supremacy.” Pressed on whether McConnell would support Trump if he becomes the 2024 GOP presidential nominee: “Let me just say again, there is simply no room in the Republican Party for antisemitism or white supremacy. This would apply to all the leaders of the party who will be seeking offices.”

Sigh. 

Trump Replies: McConnell “is a loser for our nation.”

--TL

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COMMENTS: editors@thehustings.news

Trump Loses, Again

By Todd Lassa

As expected, on The Day After, the U.S. Senate is still up for grabs. With Democrat John Fetterman (pictured) beating Trump-backed Dr. Mehmet Oz and picking up the Pennsylvania Senate seat made open by the retirement of never-Trumper Republican John Toomey, Republicans must win at least two of three undecided races currently held by Democrats, among Nevada, Georgia and Arizona. The Georgia race between Democratic Sen. Raphael Warnock and Trump-backed challenger Herschel Walker is likely to go to a December 6 runoff.

Donald J. Trump’s Senate victories Tuesday came in Ohio, where J.D. Vance beat U.S. Democratic Rep. Tim Ryan for the seat of another retiring moderate Republican, Rob Portman, and in Wisconsin, where incumbent Sen. Ron Johnson held off Democratic challenger Mandela Barnes.

The House of Representatives is still up for grabs too, with the GOP having gained just two of the five seats needed to flip the majority. NPR’s Domenico Montenaro told Morning Edition Wednesday that Republicans are likely to end up with a seven- to nine-seat gain. The resulting slim majority could pose a problem for Republican Speaker-in-Waiting Kevin McCarthy, who bent a knee for ex-President Trump shortly after the Senate voted to acquit him after his impeachment for inciting the January 6 Capitol insurrection.

McCarthy’s own vague plans for impeaching President Biden may be tougher than he had expected.

One surprising race that could flip a House seat to the Democrats: In Colorado’s 3rd Congressional District, pro-Trump Republican incumbent Lauren Boebert trails Democrat Adam Frisch in her re-election bid.

What the GOP had come to expect was this: Republicans lost 41 House seats in 2018 with Trump in the White House, and Democrats lost 63 seats in 2010 under President Barack Obama. 

It seems the same problem polling organizations had tracking Donald J. Trump v. Hillary Clinton in 2016 afflicted those organizations in 2022. Perhaps some of the intended voters who counted inflation and the economy as top concerns did not blame Biden for high inflation and the wobbly economy. 

Clearest indication that Trump is done as head of the GOP is Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis’ trouncing of Democratic candidate Charlie Crist for re-election, by nearly 20 percentage points, a day after the ex-prez warned “DeSanctimonious” he could “hurt himself very badly” if he launches a run for the 2024 Republican presidential nomination. Florida is now a deep-red state, with DeSantis having flipped formerly blue Miami-Dade Tuesday. Republican Sen. Marco Rubio also easily won re-election Tuesday.

Trump apparently still plans to make his “big announcement” next Tuesday to run again in 2024.

We have seen the GOP ready to “move on” before, from the time he lost the 2020 presidential election to the the January 6thCapitol insurrection and last August 8 when the FBI searched Mar-a-Lago for confidential government files. Is it for real this time? An article on FoxNews.com Wednesday contained the whole story in the headline, “Conservatives point finger at Trump after GOP’s underwhelming election results: ‘He’s never been weaker.’ Many conservatives say Tuesday’s election results show it’s ‘time to move on’ from Trump.”

After two years enduring Trump’s Big Lie, we may have taken a step back toward democracy.

(WED 11/9/22)

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COMMENTS: editors@thehustings.news

At Least Three Shades of Red

Sunak is Britain’s Next PM – Rishi Sunak (above) is Britain’s prime minister after his last Conservative Party rival, Penny Mordaunt, dropped out of the race just before Monday nomination deadline, The Guardian reports. Scandal-plagued former PM Boris Johnson, for whom Sunak served as chancellor of the exchequer for two years, dropped out Sunday evening. Sunak was expected to take over for Liz Truss by Tuesday, giving her a total of 50 days as PM. 

Note: Truss was on her way out pretty much from the time she took over for Johnson in August. Plagued with a higher inflation rate in the UK than in the US, in part blamed on Brexit administered by Johnson, she announced a huge tax cut evoking President Reagan’s “trickle-down” economics, which triggered a negative reaction by financial markets. That led to her embarrassing reversal of the economic plan. 

Sunak, 42, the youngest British PM in nearly 200 years, is to be the third Conservative PM since Johnson won in 2019.

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McConnell v. McCarthy on Ukraine Aid – Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-KY) has rebuked House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy (R-CA) for his warning that a GOP majority in the lower chamber will not “write a blank check” for Ukraine, per Newsweek. It’s the latest sign of a continued split between Senate and House Republicans over loyalty to Donald J. Trump and his relationship to Russian President Vladimir Putin. 

“Russia continues escalating attacks on Ukraine’s infrastructure,” according to McConnell’s statement. “The lessons to us are clear. The Biden administration and Ukraine’s friends across the globe must be quicker and more proactive to get the aid they need.”

Last Tuesday, McCarthy told Punchbowl News that if the GOP retakes the House after November 8th’s midterms, his caucus will balk at further military aid to Ukraine in its fight against the Russian invasion. Last May, 57 House Republicans led by uber-Trumpers Marjorie Taylor Greene, of Georgia, and Matt Gaetz, of Florida, voted against a $40-billion aid package for Ukraine.

Rep. Liz Cheney (R-WY), responding to a question at a Harvard Kennedy School event last Tuesday, said “I don’t know that I can say I was surprised, but I think it’s really disgraceful that today Minority Leader McCarthy suggested that if Republicans get the majority back that we will not continue to provide support for the Ukrainians.”

Dirty Bomb: After Russian Defense Minister Sergei Shoigu accused Ukraine of preparing a “dirty” nuclear bomb, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy responded in his weekly Sunday evening address that only Russia was capable of using nuclear weapons in Europe, reports Voice of America. 

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