The impeachment of the Speaker of Congress was historic, but so is the incapacitation of the most important institution after the President and Vice President.
In the US Congress, the far-right group of Republicans did not want the Speaker of the House of Representatives to cooperate with the Democrats in any way. This is why the Speaker, Republican Kevin McCarthy was fired.
This is how the professor of North American studies at the University of Turku sums it up Benita Heiskanen why the United States is now not only in a historic, but also a very special situation.
Congress has a temporary president, but in practice he only has enough power to keep the congress idle for the election of a new president. There is also a big problem with that:
– No one knows when the chairman will be voted on. Now we are in completely unnavigable waters.
How does the confusing situation in the United States affect Finland and the rest of the world?
– Whenever there is an unstable political situation in the United States, it inevitably affects the situation of the whole world and us as well.
Heiskanen reminds that everything started with the support of Ukraine, which the far-right Republicans did not want to continue. The dismissed speaker disagreed.
How is the Ukrainian support going?
– Support is now frozen. Until it is known who are even running for president, one cannot speculate on support. Will there be a pro-republican president or compromise-seeking candidates. Impossible to know.
The United States’ own budget is also currently open, only emergency funding until mid-November has been decided upon.
– The situation is somewhat catastrophic when there is no chairman to get things started. The chairman is the one who decides the schedule and the process, how to proceed.
How serious is the chaos?
– The Speaker of the House of Representatives is the third in the line of succession to perform the duties of the President.
– Congress is de facto incapacitated. It’s not that the state administration is closed part-time, but that the entire House of Representatives is unable to promote any issues. The situation is completely exceptional and very dangerous.
What happens next?
Republicans and Democrats are trying to come up with a plan for when the first vote on a new president could be held.
Candidates must also be decided.
– The Republicans do not have clear chips on the candidate. The situation for the Democrats is quite clear. But how do Republicans rally their ranks? Whether there will be a consensus candidate, nothing is known about that, says Heiskanen.