In the United States, representatives of the extreme right of the Republican Party started a rebellion in their own party yesterday, Tuesday.
The Republicans who were seeking the position of speaker of the House of Representatives fell victim to the rebellion Kevin McCarthy. His path to becoming speaker was blocked, at least for a while, when twenty representatives of his own party stood against him.
The Republicans’ public struggle for power can be said to be historic. For the first time in over a hundred years, Congress failed to get a speaker elected to the House of Representatives on the first try.
And not even on the second or third attempt.
After the third round, the parties found themselves in a stalemate. In the hall, it was decided to try the election of the speaker again after a night’s sleep.
In this story, we answer the most important questions about Washington’s chaotic day.
What happened yesterday?
The US Congress was supposed to open its session yesterday with the usual signs. On the side of the House of Representatives, this means voting for the Speaker to be the leader of the House of Commons.
Due to the Republicans’ victory in the election last November, the speaker’s position was given to Kevin McCarthy. He has worked in the House of Representatives as a party group leader since 2014.
As the day progressed, however, it became clear that McCarthy did not have the unified support of his party.
At first there were rumors about a few critics, but in the actual vote there were already twenty opponents of McCarthy in his own party.
In the last attempt of the evening, McCarthy’s election as speaker was supported by 202 against 20 Republicans (you switch to another service). 218 votes would have been required for selection.
This was far from over, as all the Democrats voted for their own party’s candidate We’re looking for Jeffries. The Democrats made the most of the public power struggle of the Republicans and emphasized their own unity next to the disorganized Republican group.
Who are the Republican Radicals?
The group of radical Republicans opposed to McCarthy is united by their opposition to the prevailing political system – the establishment.
The group’s representatives emphasize that they came to Washington “from outside politics”, and they equally despise the traditional party elite of the Democrats and Republicans.
The members of the group staunchly support the previous president Donald Trump’s driving line. Most of them share Trump’s false claim that the 2020 presidential election was rigged against Trump.
Before the vote, McCarthy tried to appeal to the radical wing of the group in a speech in which he said he had “earned” the position as speaker, referring to his long career as a Republican congressional leader.
However, the speech was an obvious mistake, because the goal of McCarthy’s opponents is precisely to stir up the party’s leadership in a new and more radical direction.
The group that opposed McCarthy collected their votes in the second and third ballots representing the right wing of the Republicans by Jim Jordan behind.
The chaotic atmosphere in the hall was emphasized by the fact that Jordan himself supported McCarthy’s election and even gave a speech in favor of McCarthy’s election.
– We must support him and unite our ranks, Jordan pleaded in his speech.
In the opinion of the radical wing, Jordan’s speech only emphasized his incompetence.
McCarthy, on the other hand, shows himself to the extreme wing of his party as a worst-class political coward whose promises cannot be trusted, even though he has promised the radicals many concessions, from committee seats to congressional rule changes.
– If you want to drain the swamp, you can’t put the biggest alligator to do the job, the representative who opposed McCarthy’s election Matt Gaetz said.
McCarthy, on the other hand, attacked Gaetz outright. He revealed that Gaetz had said on a group call that he was not interested in Democrat Hakeem Jeffries becoming speaker. As long as McCarthy’s choice is stopped.
What happens next?
The House of Representatives is scheduled to continue voting today from early evening Finnish time.
The first vote of the day will show whether McCarthy’s support will increase or decrease from yesterday, or whether the vote numbers have stagnated.
Today, Trump also appeared in support of McCarthy, who on his social media account called on Republicans to rally behind McCarthy.
Despite this, McCarthy may have trouble getting the necessary number of votes behind him, because for many who oppose McCarthy, the problem is precisely McCarthy as a person, and the new concessions are no longer enough.
A part of the group of radicals may also want to show that they are no longer just Trump’s followers, but independent continuations of his combative style.
However, it is unlikely that a right-wing Republican candidate could win the support of the party’s more moderate representatives, even if McCarthy’s support collapses.
A possible compromise candidate can be Steve Scalise, the party’s current whip, i.e. supervisor of group discipline. He also gave a speech yesterday in favor of McCarthy’s election, but the situation could change quickly if McCarthy’s base of support collapsed completely.
However, McCarthy is not going to give up.
– I hold the record for the longest speech ever in the boardroom. It’s not a problem for me to get hold of the record in the most voting rounds as speaker, McCarthy threatened yesterday.
Will this Congress get anything done?
Washington’s gridlock can start today or remain in place for a long time.
No law obliges the House of Representatives to elect a speaker within a certain time. In 1855, it took two months to elect a speaker.
The House of Representatives is currently not functional because it does not have a Speaker. The country’s Congress is therefore crippled in carrying out its duties as long as the current stalemate continues.
Most likely, the stalemate will be resolved in such a way that McCarthy either gives up the race or gets the support of the radicals with ever greater concessions.
In both options, the winner is the radical wing that has kept its ranks close, and has already shown how much power they have in the new Congress.
Washington Post columnist Karen Tumulty your picture (you will switch to another service)that eventually McCarthy or any “unfortunate soul” gets the speaker’s place, then he will be “in hell for the next two years” while the radicals of the party exercise power.
After the election of the president, the power will be revealed at the latest in questions related to the federal budget and the debt ceiling, where even a divided Congress has traditionally reached a compromise in order to prevent market chaos.
In this Congress, the Republican radicals showed on their first day that compromises with them are more difficult.
You can discuss the topic until 11:00 p.m. on January 5, 2023.
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