Will Gottheimer Be The GOP Kingmaker?
McCarthy ally Don Bacon, the mainstream conservative from the less and less conservative Omaha, is now publicly threatening the FacsistFive (Now 20) that if they block McCarthy from becoming speaker, he’ll work with Democrats to elect a Republican far less amenable to them and far less manipulatable than Cavin’ Kevin. They can wrap McCarthy around their little fingers and lead him around by his nose, but Bacon is telling them that OK Kevin is their best option because it’s not going to be Gym Jordan and it could well be an anti-fascist mainstream Republican like Brian Fitzpatrick (PA), Mario Biaz-Balart (FL), Vern Buchanan (FL), David Joyce (OH), David Valadao (CA) or someone else loathed by the extreme right fringe— maybe even a non-member of Congress like Fred Upton or John Katko, whom they would have little to no leverage against. Basically, Bacon was talking about something approaching bipartisan conservative governance that leaves the fascists out in the cold-- and with none of the crazy rules changes they've been fighting for like mad dogs and that McCarthy agreed to.
Writing for a right wing website yesterday— with McCarthy’s approval— Bacon made the point that the vast majority of the Republican conference “knows we can’t cave to the few when the demands are unreasonable. The immediate gridlock by this handful threatens the entire GOP, the House and will delay the operations of the 118th Congress. I don’t plan on sitting on the sidelines letting this happen. Leaders are proactive. As a retired brigadier general who served nearly 30 years in the Air Force, I know how important it is to rally the team behind a common goal. Teams can’t make perfection the enemy of good.”
Much has been made of me saying I would work with moderate Democrats to elect a more moderate speaker. But my actual words were that if the five refused to coalesce around what the vast majority of the conference wants, I’m willing to work across the aisle to find an agreeable Republican.
We cannot be held captive by a small number and run the risk of delaying the formation of committees and working on the agenda we promised Americans this past November.
We should not set a bad precedent and allow a few people to undercut the entire team of 222 members. Further, of the 16 new Republicans elected, 13 are affiliated with the Mainstreet GOP. It was the governing conservatives who got us the majority.
The real complaint here should be with the small faction who refuse to work with the rest of the conference. They are putting our majority in the House at risk.
My point is that if a few won’t be part of the 218 members we need to govern, we’ll then find other ways to get to 218!
Everyone I’ve talked to on Capitol Hill has told me that Bacon is bluffing and that no one is taking him seriously and that it couldn’t happen. That’s what the fascist members of the Alaska state legislature thought too— until a governing coalition of convenience between Democrats and mainstream Republicans left the extremists out to twist in the wind, first electing Democrat Bryce Edgmon in 2017 as Speaker and then electing non-fascist Republican Louise Stuts in 2021.
Very conservative, anti-MAGA Republican former congressman before today's voters:
So McCarthy, who could only afford to lose 4 votes, lost 20 and by the 3rd ballot all 20 voted for Gym Jordan. No one voted for eager self-promoters Patrick McHenry or Elise Stefanik. The Speakerless House adjourned for the day and McCarthy-- who's acting as if he were speaker and has moved into Nancy's office-- said they'll try again tomorrow at noon. A good thing: George Santos hasn't been sworn in as a member of Congress. Ted is getting ready for tomorrow:
