Dumpster Fire On Steroids: Speaker Stalemate Inflames Right Wing Media
By Kevin Howley, January 5, 2023
As of this writing, the House of Representatives is headed into a third day of voting for Speaker, with signs that neither Majority Leader (sic) Kevin McCarthy (R-CA) nor his “detractors” – whose numbers swelled from single digits late last week to upwards of 20 as of Wednesday evening’s tally – are giving up.
Amid the chaos, Beltway insiders are weighing in. On Wednesday, President Biden said the speaker battle was “embarrassing,” adding, “it’s not a good look” for the United States. Meanwhile, self-proclaimed “pragmatic conservatives,” like Dusty Johnson (R-SD), shot down speculation that moderate Republicans and House Democrats might cut a deal. “Anybody who’s imagining some sort of unity or fusion approach, I think, is probably paying more attention to Aaron Sorkin movies than they are to how this place normally functions.”
That’s the view from the nation’s capital. The right wing noise machine offers a far more acrimonious perspective.
RINO Hunting
Recapping Dan Crenshaw’s (R-TX) interview with CNN, the Gateway Pundit didn’t pull any punches: “One would think Congressman Crenshaw could maintain a minutia of perspective and save his deepest ire for the terrorists who took his eye in Afghanistan. But no, conservative patriots like his fellow Texas Congressman Chip Roy serve as his ultimate adversary for daring to oppose squish Kevin McCarthy.”
Two days later, American Thinker castigated Crenshaw for giving aid and comfort to the enemy – Democrats, that is – on none other than Fox News. Rajan Laad summed up Crenshaw’s interview this way: “He first called his colleagues dimwitted and inarticulate, then he branded them terrorists. Crenshaw was using Democrat talking points to demean and attack his own colleagues.”
Recalling the Texas Republican’s dust up with Margorie Taylor Greene over US military aid to Ukraine, Ladd continued, “This isn’t the first time Crenshaw used pejorative epithets that emanated from the sewers of the Democrat propaganda machinery to target his party members.”
Taking up one of McCarthy’s fiercest critics, Matt Gaetz’s (R-FL) talking points, American Thinker’s Olivia Murray opined: “By now we’ve all heard the news that McCarthy has so far suffered a humiliating defeat as House members failed to elect a Speaker. Funny though, that hasn’t stopped McCarthy from setting up shop in the Speaker’s office. McCarthy is officially a squatter, and that says everything about who he is as a man: entitled, self-serving, and completely lacking in integrity.”
Not since that tumult of the Trump era have we witnessed a GOP flame war of such epic proportions. Then the Donald took to Truth Social to support McCarthy’s floundering speaker bid. Call it a Trumpster fire.
Mar-a-Lago Power Outage
The twice-impeached former president’s intervention – ostensibly to sway anti-McCarthy forces, but just as likely an effort to maintain a shred of relevance as the GOP struggles to free itself from Trump’s influence – made headlines. But it didn’t move the needle. In fact, the hardliners pushed back.
One-time Trump acolyte and a man who knows how to pick his moments to chat up Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-NY), Matt Gaetz, called Trump’s endorsement “sad.” In a sly statement to Fox News, Gaetz added: “This changes neither my view of McCarthy, nor Trump, nor my vote.”
Not to be outdone, Colorado representative and assault weapon devotee, Lauren Boebert took to the House floor on Wednesday to call out both McCarthy and Trump. “Let’s stop with the campaign smears and tactics to get people to turn against us, even having my favorite president call us and tell us we need to knock this off. I think this actually needs to be reversed. The president needs to tell Kevin McCarthy that, ‘Sir, you do not have the votes and it’s time to withdraw.’”
Eager to play down the tumult, Townhall clung to this bit of wisdom, posted to Twitter by NBC senior political reporter and Trump whisperer, Jonathan Allen: “It’s worth noting that the anti-McCarthy lawmakers … can tell the difference between Trump reiterating support for McCarthy and Trump attacking the rebels to pressure them to flip into McCarthy’s camp.”
Equally noteworthy, right wing media flipping the script and readily accepting insights from a card carrying member of the “Fake News.” Strange days, indeed.
The High Price of Chaos
As the House convenes for another go at selecting a speaker, it’s important to acknowledge the implications of the intra-party floor fight. For starters, members of the 118th Congress have yet to be sworn in. Then there’s the matter that no one, Republican or Democrat, can take up their committee assignments.
Not that legislation was high on the GOP’s “to do” list this session. But Republicans can’t even get their all-things Biden investigation juggernaut rolling. Absent any rules, it is something out of the wild west. More’s the pity, this is shaping up to be a sneak preview of a potential government shut down when Congress takes up the debt ceiling debate later this year.
It’s days like this that make me nostalgic for the relative sanity of 2022.
Kevin Howley is a writer and educator whose work has appeared in Journalism: Theory, Practice and Criticism, Social Movement Studies, and Interactions: Studies in Communication and Culture. His most recent book is Drones: Media Discourse and the Public Imagination.
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Not since that tumult of the Trump era have we witnessed a GOP flame war of such epic proportions. Then the Donald took to Truth Social to support McCarthy’s floundering speaker bid. Call it a Trumpster fire. (Image: Pixabay)
