McCarthy is not any sort of hero
ROBERT REICH in Robertreich.Substack.Com
Well, he was just tossed out. But Kevin McCarthy has as
much to do with the common good as the lizard my cat just dragged into the
house. (The lizard is still alive. I tossed him out of the House.)
It makes me sick to see McCarthy lauded as some sort of
hero. He didn’t sacrifice his career for the well-being of America. He just
didn’t want to be tagged as the person most responsible for shutting the
government down, as was one of his predecessors named Newt. And he took a
calculated gamble that he’d be able to keep his speakership (he may still, but
I’ll get to that in a moment).
As Rep. Abigail Spanberger, a moderate Democrat from
Virginia, put it: “Kevin McCarthy is among the most unprincipled, untrustworthy
people I ever have encountered in the entirety of my life, and I think he does
damage to this institution and our democracy.”
Recall that McCarthy was willing to do anything — anything —
to become speaker, including changing the rules on who can propose a resolution
to remove a speaker, to allow just one gonzo Republican to do it — like, um,
Matt Gaetz.
McCarthy has even been willing to start an impeachment of
Joe Biden, for no reason other than Trump wants it.
McCarthy has been a Trump lapdog since Trump began
raising lapdogs.
In 2016, McCarthy gave his unwavering support to Trump when the rest of the party establishment had doubts.
After the “Access Hollywood” tape was leaked and
Republicans wondered whether to pull their endorsements, McCarthy fumed: “What
the hell are you guys doing? How can you do this and hurt our nominee?”
Soon, McCarthy and Trump were speaking several times a
day. Trump called him “my Kevin.”
After the 2020 election, McCarthy went on Fox News to
say, “President Trump won this election … We cannot allow this to happen before
our eyes.” (That December, when the Texas attorney general petitioned the
Supreme Court to contest the results in four states, McCarthy initially
declined to sign an amicus brief in support of the lawsuit, but reversed
himself hours after the list of signers went public and Trump got angry;
McCarthy cited a “technical glitch.”)
On the night of January 6, 2021, after the insurrection
at the Capitol, McCarthy voted against certifying the election. Although he
initially blamed Trump for the attack, he voted against Trump’s impeachment.
Two weeks later, he made a pilgrimage to Mar-a-Lago to kiss Trump’s ring.
As Adam Kinzinger, the former Republican congressman from
Illinois, put it: “Kevin McCarthy is responsible for the rise of Donald Trump
again. He was so close to being dead.”
House Democrats were correct today to decide not to save
McCarthy’s derriere.
But who will be the next leader of the House? I can’t
imagine Republicans will be able to coalesce around anyone else, and I’m sure
Democrats won’t help them elect a new speaker. So what happens next? Who knows?
All I know is the Republican Party has once again demonstrated it can’t govern.
As for Kevin McCarthy, he deserves no praise. He’s an
unprincipled lout.
© 2021 robertreich.substack.com
ROBERT REICH is
the Chancellor's Professor of Public Policy at the University of California,
Berkeley, and a senior fellow at the Blum Center for Developing Economies. He
served as secretary of labor in the Clinton administration, for which Time
magazine named him one of the 10 most effective cabinet secretaries of the
twentieth century. His book include: "Aftershock" (2011), "The
Work of Nations" (1992), "Beyond Outrage" (2012) and,
"Saving Capitalism" (2016). He is also a founding editor of The
American Prospect magazine, former chairman of Common Cause, a member of the
American Academy of Arts and Sciences, and co-creator of the award-winning
documentary, "Inequality For All." Reich's newest book is "The
Common Good" (2019). He's co-creator of the Netflix original documentary
"Saving Capitalism," which is streaming now.
