Now that the GOP’s Speakership fracas is behind us, a few thoughts. Yes, with a frightfully narrow majority margin, a handful of hardliners secured what they call concessions, but at what cost? This was not necessary and should all have been conducted behind closed doors. Democracy is ugly, but this is hardly a victory for mature leadership, or a sign of good things to come.
What did the 15-ballot drama win America? Nothing more than could have been secured quietly, thoughtfully behind closed doors – the chance to read bills 72 hours ahead, get a floor vote on term limits, vote to remove a speaker if a member raises the motion, assure accountability from a Republican leader to his caucus.
As for assuring the debt ceiling is not raised again or no two appropriations bills are ever combined, those are more complex issues, the quick win in words rather likely to breakdown in practice, and win minimal. What exactly did we showcase in this week from hell?
Republican members of the House have no idea how bad this Speakership mess looked – a prolonged, unnecessarily adolescent battle for Speaker. What Americans saw last week was NOT a group of principled conservatives, but a bunch of elbows and egos, no historical perspective, remarkable lack of political maturity.
When self-control was needed, a degree of intentional unity to address high stakes with low patience, and lead without national division, we got the reverse. To quote Patrick Henry, Republicans need to hang together, or they will surely hang separately. Yes, democracy is ugly, but …this was unnecessary.
What we saw last week, speaking candidly, was the worst display of party discipline, unity, and maturity within Republican ranks since 1923, betraying a misunderstanding of duty. Cutting to the chase, leadership is not about me-me-me, not about all being quarterback, fighting over who gets the hand off, carries the ball, and which direction to run. It is not about arguing about which play should be called, by whom, and who does the blocking. But that is what we saw, chaos.
Shredded for all the world to see, gleefully covered and replayed on television, live streaming for Presidents Putin of Russia, Xi of China, Raisi of Iran, and North Korea’s Kim Jong-un – not to mention our allies – was proof that neither party has their act together.
As America wrestles with a president who cannot find his way off a stage, a vice president who cannot find the border, and a Democrat Party that alternately takes pages from Lenin, Mao, and Alinsky’s “Rules for Radicals,” the Republican Party tore its seams on national television.
What is supposed to happen – and with greater determination, wisdom, and commitment when the stakes are high and every vote counts – is that a leaders recognize unity is critical, trumps ego, posturing, and pretending 20 votes are 218. Policy disputes do not become principle.
What is supposed to happen is that internal disputes over what game, direction, position, and leadership formation holds after January 3rd – is decided well before a House Speaker is elected. Apparently a sizable chunk of the Republican House membership did not get the memo. Democrats – even in the minority – got their memo, watched Republicans divide, fumble, tackle each other, fall down, fuss, fume, and make look like they have no idea how to govern.
If all this sounds like the “messiness of democracy at work,” it is – but things need not be that messy. Americans do not have the luxury of watching self-important, oddly laughing, mulling members of Congress fiddle while Rome, or America, burns.
This is why there was no “red wave” in midterms, even with enormous frustration over political corruption, rampant egotism, shadiness in elections, cynicism, disillusionment, and leaders who ignore rank and file life. Average Americans do not want more ego, games, and posturing.
Even as America gave Republicans the Speaker’s gavel, we had to have a primetime food fight, show of how peacocks quarrel, feathers out, preening for show points, instead of doing the hard work of quietly uniting, pursuing obvious and shared objectives, because every day counts.
Even many conservatives were honestly aghast, watching Democrats crow, clap, raise money, and mock GOP division. At a time of urgency – over taxes, inflation, schools, jobs, the border, interest rates, energy, national security, COVID 2.0, and our Bill of Rights, those elected looked like everyone wanted to quarterback, run the show – lacked the humility for private agreement.
The shadow cast by last week’s House Republican temper tantrum, a public mud bowl, one that did not need to happen, and for which Republicans will pay dearly, is long. Personality-centric, me-me-me behavior does not play well in the Heartland, even when vehemently defended. Expect a scar – and maybe more – before 2024. The public expects maturity, not spleen.
What the fracas means immediately is that the GOP has to relearn unity. If democracy is messy, and it always is, the immediate impact of this messy display could be to embolden those who question us, want to hit America, cross the border in mass, take military action against allies.
Doing things that are unnecessary, egocentric, and unwise in public is seldom without consequences. The political and real world fallout of watching Republicans meltdown on international television is serious. It sent a cringeworthy message of disunity to the world.
Those involved in this Republican food fight for position, attention, and dominance – have it wrong. This is the wrong time, place, venue, and way to debate policy, process, or principle. Rather than understanding a Speakership is about compromise, they postured. America is at a crossroads, stakes high – and eating our own, running around in circles, is no way to lead.
Our adversaries have been refreshed, educated about our divisions, and emboldened by this display of raw emotion, while Democrats are aglow in self-congratulation. Sometimes leading means holding fire, powder dry, compromise, support, and patience. Somehow we have forgotten that. We better remember or this is going to be a long, difficult two years, maybe longer. Democracy is ugly, but … that was unnecessary.
Robert Charles is a former Assistant Secretary of State under Colin Powell, former Reagan and Bush 41 White House staffer, attorney, and naval intelligence officer (USNR). He wrote “Narcotics and Terrorism” (2003), “Eagles and Evergreens” (2018), and is National Spokesman for AMAC.
Bobby Chuck gets “woke” again!!! Traitor McCarthy should never have become Speaker no matter what he agreed to. The red “A” in AMAC is for Commie I guess!
Most of what McCarthy agreed to was what should have been able to be agreed to well before last week. In the first week of a new Congress, it is pretty much a do nothing week with just people finding out which committees they will be on and who will be the leader of each committee. Then they key up the order of the legislation that will be brought forward in the next few months. So it is not like a ton of things were going to accomplished that would reshape the nation overnight.
Nothing agreed to was either unreasonable or beyond what should have already been in place as part of normal House rules. One or two members were obviously showboating, but that is to be expected in any political debate. That Nancy Pelosi and the Democrats decided to run the House like an authoritarian regime with Nancy and her lieutenants drafting bills behind closed doors and then telling people they have to vote for it to see what’s in it is hardly a model we should try and emulate on the GOP side.
There was, after all, more than ample time between the midterm results and last week for McCarthy to have been able to sit down with the people he knew opposed his Speakership coronantion to address all these matters well ahead of time. Instead McCarthy simply miscalculated and thought everyone would fold at the last minute, like the GOP members in the Senate did to re-elect McConnell Senate Minority Leader despite his actions. Sometimes leadership is about actually being a leader and acting like one (anticipating the potential problems and addressing them ahead of time), instead of simply expecting to be handed the position. McCarthy apparently had to relearn that lesson last week.
So now we can move forward with the dozens upon dozens of House hearings as planned. We can have votes on symbolic legislation that will quickly die in the Democrat controlled Senate as planned. With the $1.7 trillion dollar omnibus bill having fully funded the federal government through all of fiscal year 2023, the members of Congress don’t have to worry about starting the 2024 fiscal year budgetary process until May or June for passage by September of this year.
KM is a rino, criminal ukrime sympathizer, and a traitor, he will soon receive the Wrath for all his treasonous acts against the United States of America along with all the other rinos who are just as corrupt as the left. am glad the holdouts did what they did it proved how much he was on the criminal cabals side.
Great article if we lived in a democracy, but we don’t. We live in a republic. There IS a difference.
Well put, Mr. Charles.
Well .,just imagine if the latest 1.7 trillion 5,000 page you have to vote before you can read it went through this process,all legislation was intended to have this type of conversation .. not backroom or bar stool deals and all of it should be done in this very public manor allowing us the constituents the Opportunity to let our servants know what we we like or dislike then said rep or senator proceeds remember we pay them..that means THEY WORK FOR US ..not the other way around
This sounds like it was written by a RINO. The media (Democrats), do not need a reason to portray the Republican party as dysfunctional. That is their default position anyway. Both parties need to eject their extreme elements and a third party needs to emerge that represents those remaining Americans that support the Constitution and demand accountability in government. Things like enforcement of the law and proper management of our resources.
Sorry but I think this article is WRONG! We have been watching Congress pass bill after bill without reading anything, debating anything and cramming crap down the throats of Americans because the sky is falling one too many time!!!! Crises after Crises and that’s NOT how government is supposed to work, pulling us all further into bankruptcy while just playing games to enrich themselves!!! What that 20 did was get RINO McCarthy to make concessions for the REAL conservatives in Congress and hopefully put maturity back into the peoples house! I agree these rules should have been ironed out before the first vote but they weren’t!!! McCarthy has been seeking the Speaker position for a long time cuz all he really cares about is his own resume! There are too many Pharisees in DC who think themselves royalty and these 20 stood up for the American people and reminded their own side, since Democrats don’t care about the people, that Republicans are supposed to be for the people and as conservatives, make government work again – not the corruption we’ve seen now for over 15-20 years!
Totally disagree with the writer. Sounds like the old guard who doesn’t want any new blood… or any change to the good old way of doing things. About time we had some people in Washington willing to shake things up. If it had only happened in the Senate with McConnell! And let’s get rid of Ronna Daniels at the RNC. Hire Hermeet Dhillon to lead the RNC!
You may just be a little too tender for observing American politics when it’s not a scripted soap opera.
Perhaps you should review cute puppy photos on social media, as a form of recuperation.
What happened was democracy in a Constitutional republic in progress, and it has been a lot more conflicted and loud, or even violent, in the past. Nobody beat anybody almost to death with a walking stick, so I think it turned out okay.
Consider this a valuable learning experience.
I think the conservatives did a good thing. McCarthy seems to be one of those who wants to “reach across the aisle.” The days of John Kennedy and Hubert Humphrey are over. Today’s Democrats are a Marxist party. The only compromises they accept are when the other side gives in. I’m glad the conservatives made their presence and their views known publicly.
Sorry, Robert. Chip Roy is my rep and he and his colleagues did exactly what was necessary, and they did it openly, rather than in the cloakroom. I support the Freedom Caucus because they seem to realize that we are in a political war with the Dems so that we don’t drift by “going along to get along” into violent confrontations. That’s good for nobody. And they kept it pretty civil while getting what Nancy Pelosi would have spit at.
Short and not too sweet. I do not agree with the premise of this article and am disappointed in AMAC for giving it credence
I am so relieved to see that most commenters here do not like this column.
The writer missed what happened completely. This was all McCarthy’s fault. He asked for what it would take for these freedom caucus members to be satisfied. They showed him their list and he summarily dismissed tham treating them like nothings. The whole point of winning the house was to change the rules back to where they should have been. Pelosi ran everything as if she was a dictator and they wanted the Representatives, once again to have the usual rules and power that the Constitution gave them.
Here is what I wrote about it.
theuniversalspectator.wordpress.com/2023/01/05/my-two-cents/” target=”_blank” rel=”noopener nofollow ugc”>My Two Cents
Very good. Sound words.
I am glad it’s over. I am for giving McCarthy his chance. I just got tired of being lectured on how bad it looked by a party who has abandoned the Constitution, and is working feverishly turn this country into a socialist dystopia , under a one-party ruler.
Wouldn’t it have been nice if the $1.7 Trillion omnibus bill was debated on the floor like the vote for House Speaker? And all the reps who voted against and for it went on record?
Do not agree
Sorry Bob…politics is messy and this little exercise was certainly all of that. I believe it is exactly what Madison had in mind when he threw his substantial intellect behind the concept of a constitutional republic with all of its inherent conflicts and difficulties. Your problem I would suggest is, thanks to modern media, we have the misfortune to witness same in great detail.
BTW I think you will find the quote you attributed to Patrick Henry was actually uttered by Benjamin Franklin.
McCarthy dropped the ball by not being prepared. He “assumed” and we all know what assuming leads to. In any case, the Speaker’s vote was a good place to air our disagreements. The light of transparency can be a very good thing. No harm, no foul.
Not to say that a little closed door discussion is always a bad thing. We certainly need to know our end game if we decide to either temporarily shut down the government or temporarily default on the debt. Those are decisions are better when not made on the fly.
This was absolutely one of the best things that could have happened. “Behind closed doors” would probably have resulted in the same crap we’ve been getting from Congress for decades. Perhaps now the House will function as the Founders intended and We The People will get the government we are due. After all, we fight the wars, pay the taxes, and MAKE the economy work so that we can even have a country.
Everything that was shown here is necessary so that we can truly see what we’re dealing with. Whether it is democrats or republicans the outcome is still the same. Too many fighting for power with no real leaders. They want a position that they are unable to uphold because they don’t know that leaders represent a stronghold to order and balance, through positive action. Holding fire, support, compromise, and patience as well is needed to bring groups together as stated. We have no leaders with integrity and discipline to unite those that don’t need to be there anyway on either side.
I beg to differ… Democracy is not ugly!
McCarthey’s feet were held to the fire until the disingenuous Republican in name only gained the speakership!
Your opinion of this stand is erroneous. This is democracy
I cannot support AMAC while having you as spokesperson.
Do not agree..
You are Rhino the only people that are upset are Rhinos , the Democrats, and the media . We the people that vote are tired of the same old same old. The best exp I heard a long time ago are the Democrats are driving us over the cliff in a Ferrari and the Republicans are driving a Chevy. It’s time to hold Republicans responsible for this BS and it’s people like you writing this story that encourage it. Until Republicans start doing what we elected them to do there should be dissent. McCarthy has a long way to go to earn trust.
I was a getting up set at the beginning. Then I realized what was really happening. We needed this or our country would continue in the toilet right where the democrats are taking it along with most of the Republicans. They are using us for a piggy bank so just a few can get rich off this nation and let China or who ever take it over. Nope it needed to be done and we must push harder and harder. It won’t be easy.
Of course, this should have been “ironed out” and settled behind closed doors long before the first speaker vote. Such simple and common-sense requests that most Republicans agree with anyway. Gentlemen such as Dan Crenshaw and RBC knew this intuitively. But what I think Dan and Robert missed is that it wasn’t “ironed out” beforehand because McCarthy et al. had to engineer this to satisfy their shadow masters. The billionaires and Uni-Party Republican interests financing the McCarthy wing needed to be soothed if he was to have his Speakership. For appearance’s sake McCarthy knew he could not be seen by the Uni-Party cabal as “giving in” to the disrupters before the game was even afoot. So, what to do? I know McCarthy thought, I’ll stone wall the disrupters (conservative caucus) even if I think they have a few valid points. That will show my cred to the Uni-Party wing and their shadow masters and put the conservative caucus in a corner. They either vote for me as is, or they get themselves into a “clown show” and lose credibility. And of course, even if I end up giving them their precious rule changes, what choice did I have. Not my fault. I win the Speakership either way and satisfy the Uni-Party Cabal that I can manipulate the conservative caucus to do my (the cabals) bidding. It’s good to be King!
Has to be ugly to make Public
Speed up rules for changes ahead
The “objectors” were CORRECT to hold out until they got the rule changes which restore “regular order” to the House. Actually allowing bills to be debated in committee and giving members time to READ them BEFORE a vote is 100% CORRECT! Pelosi ruled like a dictator which was appropriate since DIMMs LOVE dictators!
This article is unusually good, better that I expected!
Well there for a minute I thought I had somehow gotten on the AARP website. AMAC you are starting to sound just like the RINOS, what the heck.?? It’s called NEGOTIATION! And though it might have seemed ugly, if the negotiations had not happened then McCarthy never would have agreed to the concessions he finally did. This was needed and my hat is off to the ones who held his feet to the fire. Otherwise it would just be the status quo, business as usual. There has been way too much spending going on. Have you even read what is in the latest omnibus bill?? It’s ridiculous! That bill was to fund the government for this coming year, but many items were included that should never have been approved, i.e. $1.2 million for LGBTQIA+ Pride Centers, $3 million for an LGBTQ+ museum in New York City, $3.6 million for a Michelle Obama Trail in Georgia, $2 million for the “Great Blacks in Wax” museum in Baltimore, those are just a few of the earmarks. What does any of that have to do with funding the government for the coming year?? It’s disgraceful! And yet you think the 20 should have just rubber stamped KM for speaker without any concessions. One of the concessions was to not do these type of omnibus deals anymore. The House Republicans could have banned the practice of earmarking but the GOP agreed to keep the pork money flowing with the vote in November. It was time for someone to stand up and say enough. AMAC if I continue seeing these type of articles from you, I may have to terminate my membership. I may as well join AARP if I want these type of garbage articles.
And one more thing – Please stop calling our country a Democracy! We are a Constitutional Republic. Please learn the difference!
Actually, the United States of America is a republic, not a democracy. Democracy is unlimited, unrestricted majority rule, in which the majority can override the rights of the minority by simple majority vote. (It has been said that the best example of democracy is a lynch mob.) Sooner or later, democracy inevitably leads to mob rule, followed by anarchy and then dictatorship. By contrast, republicanism is individual, ordered liberty under legally limited government, in which the rights of both the majority AND the minority are protected by rule of law. The Constitution of the United States says nothing about democracy. On the contrary, Article IV, Section 4 requires that each state guarantee a republican (small R) form of government.
I loathe the word DEMOCRACY. We are no where near being a democracy and if we were we’d already be under the control of a dictator. Representative Republic, look it up.
Robert Charles I agree with you 100%.
The poll on Saturday where my comment on it was shot down by many. I am glad to see other people have the same thoughts.
The chaos, debacle of last week is fodder for the dems till well after the 2024 election.
I applaud the Freedom Caucus for standing up and holding out. I’m glad the younger generation of Representatives have courage and stamina. I really wanted a speaker with younger blood, but (lesser of two evils again) I was beginning to fear we would somehow end up with the Democrat, so McCarthy it is. Congratulations to the 20! Good job kids!
I didn’t have a problem with the messiness of electing this speaker. I’ve never been terribly fond of McCarthy, so I’m glad for the sausage-making. He can deliver a speech–convincingly–when he needs to, but, otherwise, I’m not impressed. He’s little more than the House version of the Senate’s McConnell, and I think we’re all weary of the RINO’s and do-nothings. Holding his feet to the fire in this public exhibition–and getting concessions–shows the conviction for conservative principles I admire in the Freedom caucus.
This process highlights the need for Republicans/Conservatives to put into writing and to swear by a written manifesto which clearly delineates what we absolutely must support as a unified party and what we absolutely will not stand for.
The nomination of McCarthy was messy. However, it was refreshing to watch democracy at work and not the goose stepping tyranny led by Pelosi. I feel the peoples’ voices will be heard and for that I am glad.
My thoughts exactly. Republicans looked like a bunch of first graders fighting over a lollipop. Biden is doing a bang up job of making this country look like buffoons. Then the first graders took over. So what can we expect from a house we had hoped would put the dems in their place? Are the first graders going to put the brakes on the crucifiction of biden, his family, and reversal of some of his ridiculous policies? I am rapidly losing faith in any of that happening
“What exactly did we showcase in this week from hell?”
What was “showcased” this week is that at least the “republican” party doesn’t vote all soviet, ie do what the premier says or else! You may not like all the public displays but I for one have a problem with kevin mccarthy and the rest of the milque toast rinos that have continually given ground to the now obvious communist backed democrat party! It needs to get nasty in order to route out the communists that have become so entrenched in OUR GOVERNMENT. We will see if McCarthy has the chutzpah to actually herd the pack of cats known as the republican caucus to actually do what needs to be done to cut off the communist takeover AS OPPOSED TO DOING WHAT IT TAKES TO PROTECT HIS WORTHLESS CAREER!!!!!!!
I disagree. Things should be hashed out for the citizens to view. I don’t believe in secret meetings unless the nation is at war. I don’t give a damn what the liberals or other nations think of us.
The reason Republicans did not do as well at the polls in 2022 was the same reason they didn’t do well in 2020 – liberal mass cheating. Little changed in the way the states conducted this election compared to the one in 2020.
With the mood of the country today, there is little likelihood that there will ever be a free and fair election again. Voter apathy, America’s greatest.
And abortion on demand is the new slavery!
Democracy AGAIN? Are we not still living in a CONSTITUTIONAL REPUBLIC?
I know the CLOWNS in CESSPOOL DC ignore it most days BUT it’s not a democracy yet!
I agree with Mr. Robert Charles. Common sense! Yes the world watched this display of nonsense.
I for one cannot believe I am reading this article as an AMAC article. I totally disagree with the entirety of its premise. It is about time some of the REPUBLICANS began showing a little
sponk in fighting for what we conservatives believe in. Enough is enough for doing the same old thing there in DC. GOD BLESS those conservatives for standing up above the RINOS. The writer of this article has it terribly wrong and perhaps should join a more liberal magazine
Finally!! Mr. Charles has shown us his true swampy rhino colors. For starters anyone who thumps on “democracy” needs to go back to grade school. I won’t bother reciting how our forefathers castigated any notion of a ‘democracy’. What transpired in open debate on the full floor was what was necessary to force the moderate and rhino repubs to finally give notice of the Freedom Caucus.
I have been growing cool on Mr. Charles’ drift lately and this one places him in the freezer. It’s time for AMAC to send him over to CNN.
It’s not often that I disagree with AMAC in general or Robert Charles in particular, but this article is way off base. First, McCarthy was an awful choice as he blamed Trump for the Jan 6 “attack on Congress by mob rioters” and urged him to resign, he voted for same sex marriage, vax mandate for the military, use of Medicare funds for USPS, amnesty for DACA, $billions for Ukraine of which his PACs got back over $8M from Sam Berkman-Fried’s Ukraine money laundering FTX cryptocurrency exchange, he’s a member of the World Economic Forum and he torpedoed America First candidates in Primary elections across the country. More import, the concessions the Freedom Caucus succeeded in getting McCarthy to make by holding up his election look like this:
THE RULES FOR THE 118TH CONGRESS – Highlights of what was reportedly negotiated for Speaker of the House votes
CHANGES TO STANDING RULES:
— A single congressperson can act to remove Speaker if he goes back on his word or policy agenda
— No more omnibus bills dropped in the dead of night before a vote. Bills must be single issue and allow at least 72 hours to read them
— Covid mandates will be ended including funding for them
— No more increases in debt ceiling
— Restoration of requirement for a three-fifths supermajority vote on tax increases
—Reinstatement of the “Holman Rule” which allows for the reduction of salary, or firing, of specific federal employees, or cut a specific program
— Authorization of funds to cover expenses for ‘Resolving Contested Elections’
BILLS TO BE UP FOR A VOTE:
— Development of a plan to increase oil & gas production in the U.S.
— Rescind funding for the 87k new IRS agents
— Authorization of the Secretary of Homeland Security to suspend the entry of aliens
— Prohibition of draining the Strategic Petroleum Reserve and selling it to China and others
— Term limits
— Requirement of the national instant criminal background check system to notify U.S. Immigration & Customs Enforcement and relevant State and local law enforcement whenever a person illegally in the U.S. attempts to receive a firearm
— Prohibition of taxpayer-funded abortions
— Prohibition of health care workers from failing to provide proper care in the case of a child who survives an abortion or attempted abortion
FORMATION OF NEW COMMITTEES:
— Establishes a Select Committee on the Strategic Competition Between the U.S. and the Chinese Communist Party
— Establishes a Select Subcommittee to investigate the Weaponization of the Federal Government
— Establishes a Select Subcommittee to investigate the Covid Pandemic
Could have hoped for more, but not a bad start. The Freedom Caucus led by Matt Gaetz, Lauren Boebert and Andy Biggs that held up Kevin McCarthy from becoming Speaker of the House for days have been villified by the media and by many Republicans, like Newt Gingrich and now Robert Charles, who claim to be conservative. Look at just how much was accomplished by that handful of brave patriots.
One thing that will never be mentioned is that we only hold a one seat majority and many more Republicans than that take their matching orders from the CFR, the same organization that gives democrats their’s. Why do you think that there is no rioting in the streets or other underhanded shenanigans going on.
It’s NOT a democracy! it is a CONSTITUTIONAL REPUBLIC.Please use the proper terms.
I have to disagree with this article. I think it was a necessary process. We for too long have just rubber stamped everything they throw at us. I want to see actual thought and debate and standing up for what you believe.