Speaker of the Majority?
The Speaker of the House is a powerful position, and everyone should be involved in deciding who fills the position.
Last January, I was dramatically panned—something on Twitter/X known as “ratioed”—for this comment back in January:
But the present circumstances in the House of Representatives demonstrate my point. Speaker McCarthy is at the mercy of radical MAGA representatives in the House, and we are hurtling toward a government shutdown. Additionally, we have a President facing clear mental and health issues.
This belies the truth I tried to explain all the way back in January. The Speaker of the House has a serious role in government. The person who holds the position is second in line for the presidency. The business of the House, impactful upon the whole nation, revolves around the leadership of the Speaker.
The Republicans' own dysfunction notwithstanding, the Democrats had the numbers and the opportunity to cross over and work with non-MAGA Republicans to choose a different Speaker.
Instead, they played political games and acquiesced to allowing McCarthy to be two heartbeats from the Presidency and in a position unable to manage the fiscal responsibilities of the House. McCarthy didn't need to be the Speaker. A man who continuously enables unserious people in his caucus didn't need to be in charge of the business of the House. We didn't need to be on the brink of a government shutdown when our economic recovery from COVID is so tenuous.
Just because Republicans are a big part of the problem, doesn't mean Democrats can't step up and be a part of a better solution.
-Justin
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I'm not going to defend McCarthy at all, but we're not in an economic recovery from COVID, we're in an economic disaster caused by the government's RESPONSE to COVID. There's no sign of recovery, yet. As a matter of fact, we may have long passed the Rubicon.