The historic fall, because nothing like it had ever happened, of Kevin McCarthy as president of the House of Representatives and third position in the ladder of power in the United States, opens the most important institutional crisis suffered in this country in decades. Once the rebellion of eight far-right Republicans against their own leader, with the support of the Democrats in the bloc, was complete, all activity was postponed until the following week and the period of negotiations opened for solve the succession. This is already directly in limbo, unexplored territory.
Some names appear on the list of conservatives, but it will not be easy – political commentators say – to find a consensus among the majority of the House given the level of internal confrontation, greatly encouraged by the toxicity of Donald Trump.
Jim Jordan, legislator for Ohio, ultra-Trumpist and denier of the January 6, 2021 coup attempt (the police repressed some “tourists”, according to him), was the first to announce his candidacy yesterday in office In these ten months of McCarthy’s presidency, the most short-lived since 1876, Jordan has been a good ally of the deposed. He has supporters, but Steve Scalise, head of the Republican majority and a little less ultra, seems the natural successor and also presented his candidacy yesterday. It has more supporters. It plays against him that he is recovering from cancer.
There was also someone who brought Patrick McHenry into play, on whom the task of acting as an interim substitute has fallen. He has been in Congress since 2005. He has been a good ally of McCarthy, whom the vast majority of Republicans supported in the face of the challenge launched by the extremist Matt Gaetz and his seven followers.
The dimension of the catastrophe can be seen when there are voices among the conspirators and the most radical of the extreme right who propose that Trump himself be elected speaker. They say this is the cotton candy test for who is truly conservative, in the most radical sense.
Resorting to his style between falsehood and exaggeration, the former president answered yesterday that “many” have asked him to take the step. He assured that he rules it out. “I lead the race for the presidency by more than 50 points”, he said in reference to the rest of the conservative candidates in the 2024 presidential elections.
“I’m totally focused on the campaign, but if I can help in the process, I will. There are very good people in the Republican Party who can do a great job as speaker,” he told reporters heading into his third day of voluntary attendance at the trial on his alleged bank frauds after inflating the value of their goods
What is certain is that this unprecedented situation would not have been reached without the pernicious influence of Trump within the conservative ranks. The promoters of this challenge were some of the former president’s main spokespeople who opposed McCarthy – whom Trump let down with his silence despite being a good ally – and are pursuing total radicalization by sowing chaos.
However, at the heart of the matter is the poor result in the 2022 midterm elections for the Republicans. They were convinced that they would win back the Lower House with an overwhelming majority. The results disproved them. Aside from the covert plebiscite on abortion, the endorsement for slates of totally ineligible Trump candidates, according to analysts, led to a much higher than expected result for the Democrats, giving a slim majority to the conservatives
These are the consequences. The mistake of surrendering to Trump’s wishes and his civil war legacy has been clearly demonstrated this week. Just five dissenters within the Republican ranks were enough to oust McCarthy if the Democrats voted as a bloc as they did, holding him accountable for their disdain.
As not a few progressives pointed out in the hangover day, as of now, Hakeem Jeffries, leader of the Democratic minority in the Lower House, is the one with the most votes to be its president. It’s impossible, but it’s a fact.
