There is only one way to bring some sanity and stability back to Capitol Hill. House Speaker Kevin McCarthy has to stand up to the “political terrorists” (as former Speaker John Boehner calls them) in his own party and work with Democrats to fund the government for the next fiscal year.
As of this writing, the legislative situation remains uncertain, and it’s not yet clear whether the government will shut down. But this much is certain: Unless McCarthy defies the “terrorists” and breaks their hold on the House, their demands will only grow bolder, the speaker will only grow weaker, Congress will only grow more dysfunctional. And that’s saying a lot.
“At some point, moderate lawmakers from both parties, who represent a much broader swath of the country than the ultra-partisans, have to retake control of the legislative process,” writes the Washington Post editorial page. “The only way out of this impasse … involves bipartisan agreement.”
Precedent exists for such an agreement. Last June, the House agreed to raise the debt ceiling through a bipartisan vote of 314 to 117, with 149 Republicans joining the majority. Seventeen GOP senators also supported the compromise measure, which contained about $1 trillion in spending reductions.
But now McCarthy is back in the soup again, and to some extent, he is the victim of circumstances. Since his margin in the House is down to only four votes, just a handful of rebels can exert enormous leverage. And yes, they have threatened a move to oust the speaker if he dares to deal with Democrats. But he has to take that risk. Otherwise, he’ll be reduced to a figurehead, a neutered nonentity.
McCarthy has always known who he was dealing with — hardcore “hostage takers” in the words of Nebraska Republican Don Bacon. As McCarthy lamented recently, “This is a whole new concept of individuals that just want to burn the whole place down.”
Actually, the concept is not new. The terrorists have been setting fires all over Capitol Hill for a generation. They are primarily performers — not legislators. They measure success not in terms of bargains made or bills passed, but in social media followers and Fox News appearances. In their world, compromise is not a worthy goal, but an act of betrayal. Half a loaf is not better than none; none is better than half.
Back in 1998, Speaker Newt Gingrich denounced the terrorists as the “perfectionist caucus” before he was forced to resign. Boehner, who became speaker in 2011 and lasted only four years, described his tormentors to Vanity Fair: “They can’t tell you what they’re for. They can tell you everything they’re against. They’re anarchists. They want total chaos. Tear it all down and start over. That’s where their mindset is.”
Paul Ryan, who succeeded Boehner and also quit in frustration after two terms, told The New York Times: “Politics is supposed to be about ideas, principles and policies, and it should be aspirational and optimistic. We’ve gone in the opposite direction. Politics has become more performance art than persuasion. My side of the aisle, the people who do well these days are the people who do culture-war politics. Culture-war politics can get you your vote coalition, but it requires that you play identity politics, and identity politics is immoral. It is by definition divisive.”
Clearly this mindset predated Donald Trump, but he has co-opted the movement and become the chief terrorist. “Unless you get everything, shut it down!” he urged the rebels on social media. “It’s time Republicans learned how to fight!”
The Trumpist/terrorist allies are often described as “hard right conservatives,” but that’s a misnomer. Writing in the Wall Street Journal, former Republican senator John Danforth says they are really populists and argues, “The Republican Party is and should remain conservative, the opposite of populist.”
“Populists have relentlessly undermined our Constitution,” writes Danforth. “They have falsely asserted that elections are rigged, that President Biden is illegitimate and that we should ignore our courts. They have opposed the peaceful transfer of power and encouraged a mob to attack the U.S. Capitol. To this day, they turn Americans against the government, claiming that it is no longer our servant but has been ‘weaponized’ to attack us. None of this is conservative. All of it is radical.”
That’s the larger choice facing McCarthy and Congressional Republicans. The budget fight symbolizes a major identity crisis. Do they want to be conservatives or radicals? Deal-makers or bomb throwers? Part of the solution or part of the problem?
Steven Roberts teaches politics and journalism at George Washington University. He can be contacted by email at [email protected]. Send comments to [email protected].
