The Republican Party had left Wednesday in the case of aunusual ban, A state of turmoil led by a small group of populist deputies, tilted to the extreme, who denied its supposed leader from the bench the opportunity to rise to the position of Speaker of the House, and thus a visible face of opposition to the Democrat in power and President Joe Biden. One by one, Rep. Kevin McCarthy failed to vote due to the defection of about two dozen members of his own party, something that hasn’t happened here on Capitol Hill for a century.
For two days, Tuesday and Wednesday, he was unable to start the political track in Washington after the midterm elections in November because of this blockade. McCarthy, who had been preparing for this vote for months, did not arrive 218 votes what do you need. Even vocal support from Donald Trump has not calmed the rebels, who remain steadfast in their opposition to McCarthy. “Do not turn a great victory into a colossal and shameful defeat,” Trump told the gunmen in a statement.
This request from the former chief had no effect.. The Republican Party won a majority in the House of Representatives in previous elections, but the result was so close, ten votes ahead of the Democrats, that it gives any small group significant power. The demonstration indicates that there was no consensus on Tuesday and Wednesday to choose a leader, who would theoretically be the only Republican with legislative or executive power, ahead of the power of the Democratic majority.
McCarthy’s smile faded on Wednesday, after an intense night of calls, chats and pizza at the Capitol. His enemy was not, for once, the Democrats, and many even took the floor With popcorn bags Like someone going to the cinema to watch an action movie. The deputy took refuge in the building reserved for the Speaker of the House, and even one of the rebel Republicans, Matt Gaetz of Florida, complained in a letter about it.
Time after time, McCarthy ran on a vote that he hopelessly lost. “We’ll vote as many times as necessary,” he told the press as he entered the Capitol in the morning, as if he might be greeted by repetition. “This feels like Groundhog Day,” a Republican congresswoman lamented, Kay Kamack, McCarthy’s support.
President Biden himself was pleased to leave the White House to oversee some repairs on a bridge in Kentucky. “I think it’s really embarrassing that it took so long,” Biden said with a smile. Since 1923, the election of the Speaker of the House of Representatives has not been subject to multiple ballots. There are some grueling precedents: in 1855 it lasted two months, receiving 133 votes, during the slavery debates in the run-up to the Civil War.
In repeat polls this year, Democratic nominee Hakeem Jeffries received more votes than the Republican, but it wasn’t enough to win.
Without the Speaker, the deputies were not sworn in. There is no valid legislative authority. Laws or budgets cannot be passed. There are no rules in the House of Representatives, so popcorn, blankets, and, according to several Representatives, even alcohol, are popular to enjoy the show. This siege comes just two years after the insurrection and looting, that fateful January 6, 2021, in which an armed mob stormed these halls in an attempt to prevent Joe Biden from winning the presidential election in a few months.
Broken system
And what were the rebels arguing about? Rebel MP Paul Gosar gave an impassioned speech within the populist orthodoxy: he lamented that the system had been broken, that the prevailing bipartisanship lock must be broken, that “a new course must be taken, and that there must be a new vision so that the legislature works for the people and not for the elites.” That’s why. Gosar and his colleagues proposed an alternative candidate, Andy Biggs.It was not the first time that the 20 rowdy MPs had voted for various alternative candidates, including Byron Donaldswho is black.
On one of the many ballots, two of the candidates receiving votes, one Democrat and one Republican, were African-Americans for the first time, a historic event in itself, one that would have been celebrated were it not for the fact that it was all part of a conspiracy to unseat McCarthy.
Since the November midterm elections, the Republican Party has been in a state of limbo. True, he regained control of the House four years later, forcing Democratic Representative Nancy Pelosi, now a member of the House, to step down from his presidency. But the Conservative Party has this slim majority in the House of Representatives and was once again in the minority in the Senate. McCarthy has been fighting for his political life, trying to get enough votes from his partisanship over Christmas, in the face of resistance from the Trumpian wing.
On Wednesday, some Republicans were seen chatting with Democrats in the room, sparking rumors about a potential rapprochement, a bipartisan agreement to confirm McCarthy in return for some concessions. However, one voice after another, Six between Tuesday and WednesdayThe result was the same: defeat not only for McCarthy, but also for the Republican Party, which until two years ago had all the power in Washington.
