In the United States, the start of the term of the House of Representatives has been prevented by a small, right-wing populist radical group that wants more visibility with its campaign.
The group repeats Trumpian slogans about, among other things, cleaning up Washington and changing the system, but the group is no longer the former president’s Donald Trump’s under control, but it works relatively independently.
This is the opinion of the US domestic policy experts interviewed by .
– The average representative wants to produce a couple of laws in his term. The goal of this group, on the other hand, is to create chaos so that the entire system can be changed, analyzed the researcher Maria Lindén From the Foreign Policy Institute.
In the United States, the legislative period of the lower house of Congress has not been able to start, because the House of Representatives has not yet had an elected speaker.
The delay comes as the Republican Party is divided over who should be chosen for the job.
If all Republicans supported the party’s number one candidate Kevin McCarthythe vote would be a mere formality as the party has a majority in the House of Commons.
Now, however, 20 Republican representatives have opposed their party’s primary nominee and voted for the representative Byron Donalds as speaker.
The group has done this despite Trump himself urging all Republicans to vote for McCarthy.
Roots in the tea party movement
The extremist group’s separation from Trump can be partially explained by the fact that, according to opinion polls, Trump’s support has decreased after the congressional mid-term elections in November.
However, no clear challengers have emerged for Trump from within the Republican Party.
The party ranks are still split over how to feel about the former president and his base of supporters.
– There is a leadership deficit in the Republican Party. It is not known who will lead the party, sums up the professor of North American studies Benita Heiskanen from the University of Turku.
It is known who right now is preventing the political machinery from starting up.
Out of the twenty representatives of the radical wing, 12 have denied it Joe Biden electoral victory in the 2020 presidential election, the New York Times newspaper reported. (you switch to another service)
Almost all of them were Trump-supported candidates in the congressional mid-term elections, according to the newspaper’s investigation.
– Trump’s position among the Republicans has decreased, but the time of Trumpism is not over, analyzed researcher Lindé from the Foreign Policy Institute.
Benita Heiskanen points out that the group that is now causing a headache for the Republicans has a long history.
– The group can’t be called Trumpian alone, because it has already had an impact in the form of the tea party movement Barack Obama’s in the season. The same group has already smoked out two congressional Republican leaders, says Heiskanen.
Small group, big impact
The deliberate obstruction of decision-making seen now is not unusual in US politics, reminds Professor Heiskanen.
When the group is small, it is not able to lead politics – only to block decisions and seek attention for itself.
– In the past, this kind of blocking of decision-making has been connected to certain legal proposals, such as the blocking of the controversial Obama care health care reform. It’s very exceptional that you don’t even get to start the season, says Heiskanen.
Possible solutions to the dispute are the radical group bending over or finding a suitable candidate who better suits their tastes.
At the moment, though, both options seem unlikely, experts interviewed by estimate.
Both researchers also consider it possible that at some point the Democrats might support the candidate of the mainstream Republicans in order to bring some kind of resolution to the dispute.
– For the Democrats, it is a matter of principle. At some point, their voters will also demand a solution to the dispute, estimates Lindén