Matt Gaetz
Republican Congressman Matt Gaetz of Florida made the point. He said that the Speaker of the House, his fellow Republican was; “Out of compliance”. Gaetz then went farther and said that if Speaker McCarthy didn’t get “into compliance”, he would cease to be the Speaker.
And what is this “non-compliance” that the youngish Congressman from Pensacola proclaimed?
There are actually two answers to that question. But before we get to those answers, we need to understand how a junior member of the GOP would feel empowered to threaten the Speaker, and get away with it. Kevin McCarthy went through an excruciating exercise to achieve his life dream of becoming Speaker of the House of Representatives. Republicans have a narrow majority in the House, five votes more than the Democrats under the new leadership of Hakeem Jefferies. But a “rump caucus” of extreme Republicans refused to vote for McCarthy, dragging the process of electing the Speaker on for five days and a full fifteen roll call votes.
Wacked-Out
The few, the proud, the wacked-out extremists of the Republican caucus exacted every concession they could gain from McCarthy. Tempers flared as the last needed vote, Matt Gaetz, scaled up his demands. One of McCarthy’s allies had to be restrained from doing what a vast bipartisan majority of Congressmen wanted to do – smack Gaetz in the mouth. And it was all on live TV, in front of the whole Nation.
McCarthy ultimately gave it all up, doling his powers away, in order to gain the title of Speaker. Clearly the title was more important to him than the ability to act as Speaker. And he also gave away his ultimate “fail safe” protection. Instead of requiring five or even ten members to agree to call for a new Speaker election, McCarthy allowed that any, single member of the majority Party could trigger a new Speaker vote. Kevin’s life-dream hung on razor’s edge every day, depending only on the whim of Gaetz or Boebert, or one of the other “rumpsters”.
He’s survived for nine months. But now Gaetz is calling his IOU, and demanding that the Speaker, the leader of his Party in the House, third in line for the Presidency, get “in compliance”. And Gaetz isn’t bluffing; McCarthy already gave him the power to declare the Speakership up for grabs again.
Empty Impeachment
So what’s “the deal”? The extremists demand the impeachment of President Joe Biden, before any incriminating facts are confirmed or even gathered, or charges levied. The want Biden tried, not because he might have done anything wrong, but as retribution for the impeachments of Donald Trump. Over the past several months, the Congressional Republicans have assiduously searched for evidence of “the Biden Crime Family”. They failed miserably, with their lead witness turning out to be a Chinese spy and “on the lam”.
But it doesn’t matter. A deal is a deal, as Matt Gaetz so rudely stated: “Get in compliance or get gone”. And so the Speaker announced yesterday that there would be an “Impeachment Inquiry” – not quite an impeachment, not even a hearing by the Judiciary Committee to determine impeachment, not even a vote by the House to begin the inquiry. It’s to be more Hunter bashing and ash stirring, looking for some ember to coax to a Biden consuming flame.
Modern Benghazi Hearings
McCarthy itself said it best, in an accidental moment of honesty back in September of 2015. The House put together a Benghazi committee, that spent millions of dollars in seven different investigations. McCarthy told Sean Hannity on Fox:
“…everybody thought Hillary Clinton was unbeatable, right? But we put together a Benghazi Special Committee, a select committee. What are her numbers today? Her numbers are dropping.”
The goal of the impeachment “inquiry” is not to remove Joe Biden. The goal is to so tarnish Biden that he seems equal to the twice impeached, four-time indicted former President who is likely to lead the Republican ticket in 2024. If you can’t raise Trump up, you can drag Biden down, just like they did to Hillary.
Shut It Down
And all of this is on top of a second “Gaetz and Company” demand: that the Congressional budget be radically slashed. The clock is ticking: the budget resolution expires on September 30th. Without some joint House/Senate action, the government will shut down. The Senate is well on the way to assuring continuity, with twelve budget resolutions out of Committee and on the way to a full vote. But the House has passed only two.
So not only does McCarthy have to begin impeachment inquiries, he also has to find a way to mollify his “crazies” and keep the Government going. It’s not likely to happen, at least without some tacit support of House Democrats. But if the Speaker goes to Democrats for support, he absolutely, positively would be “out of compliance”.
And “out of compliance” might well mean a return to Kevin “just” being the member from Bakersfield. A shut down of the United States Government looms ahead, and there’s no reasonable solution in sight.
Which, of course, begs the question: if Gaetz, Boebert et al. pull McCarthy down, who becomes the next Speaker? Who is willing to give away the “farm” for the title? And who will reopen the government, if there’s no one in charge?
Postscript
Matt Gaetz tonight – appearing on MSNBC’s The Beat the Ari Melber, said that McCarthy was “lying like a dead dog”. I guess Gaetz’s isn’t planning on backing off anytime soon. Meanwhile, McCarthy today was “waffling” on calling the Biden “investigation” an “impeachment inquiry”. Maybe it’s just an old fashioned inquiry – not an impeachment one??
