Devil anew

Whoever coined the famous adage “the devil you know is better than the devil you don’t” obviously hadn’t met the demons residing at the US House of Representatives. In a stunning turn of events, even more shocking than the 15 rounds of votes to elect him that we saw back in January, the House voted to boot Speaker Kevin McCarthy from his post.

What a fall from grace. Certainly, the Democrats were in no mood to listen to that cautionary piece of advice. This devil they knew, and had dealt with for not just months but years in the political arena. And yet, they thought he was so worth getting rid of in favor of the unknown. And if they had to team up with other Republicans (not even moderate ones at that), all of them would.

Matt Gaetz, another hard-right congressman who has bedeviled Democrats and fellow Republicans with his grotesque views, wasn’t even a sufficient deterrent to the Dems. To work with him on this ouster vote, however distasteful it might be, was very doable.

NY Congresswoman AOC explained her position on IG. McCarthy made too many promises to too many people, and kept almost none of them. He had reneged on many issues, and kowtowed many times to extremists, that the Democrats were done. Truly done. And so, even if only Gaetz and seven other hard-right Republicans wanted their own speaker out, all the Democrats ended up throwing their weight behind them.

That was surprising. I would have thought the Democrats would want to keep their institutional purgatory stable. After all, McCarthy did manage to pass a stop-gap spending bill to keep the US federal government alive for 45 more days. McCarthy had proven that he could be a bit reasonable, never mind it was already the eve of a potential shutdown.

Perhaps, McCarthy was thinking the Democrats would see him in this more reasonable halo, and save him. Having only 45 days before another funding gap reared its ugly head, the Democrats might have wanted to keep on working with him for just a few more weeks.

Nope, that obviously wasn’t the thinking. From the Dems side of the aisle, the mood was: “Let them self-destruct”. And they calculated right: Even if the numbers to boot McCarthy out would came in the hundreds from the Democratic side, the Republicans and Gaetz would still be blamed for it. And so the Democrats threw the dice, and the US finds itself without an elected speaker for the first time in history.

The BBC writes that whoever steps into that position will inherit a poisoned chalice. After all, the new speaker would walk into a political theater with the same dynamics. The nominal Congressional majority that is the Republicans is fractured within, with a handful of extremist Republicans wielding outsized power, able to hold hostage a couple of hundred of their own. Figuring out which outrageous demand to give in to, like continuing a Hunter Biden inquiry, impeaching Joe Biden, or denying women their autonomy over their bodies, would be served on the demonic platter to the new speaker.

If those minority within a majority ever split from the Republican Party, the majority would suddenly lose their proportional advantage. The real majority, therefore, seems to be the Democrats. Given how unified they are, they have the numbers to push for bills that appeal to them and moderate Republicans.

But what do I know. I still don’t understand how candidates with views like space lasers beamed down upon Earth, or with fake volleyball team credentials, get elected into the US House of Representatives. Much like I do not know how Supreme Court justices can accept private plane rides and tuition fee gifts, and not be hounded out from office (of course, lest I be sanctioned by our own, I’m speaking of the US Supreme Court here).

All we can do now is watch the House buckle down to elect a new speaker who will be able to govern men and women with dubious track records of keeping their word, and even more dubious political views. Oh, which demon will win that beauty contest? The latest candidate to be floated as of press time? Still McCarthy. Looks like the devil we know might just come back.