The elected members of the American House of Representatives are unable, for the moment, to elect a president, after two unsuccessful attempts by Republican Kevin McCarthy, a first in 100 years.
By Maurin Picard
Jlike messy plans, but then this one goes beyond everything! Stunned, an anonymous Republican elected official confides his surprise after the psychodrama that occurred on Capitol Hill on Monday afternoon: Kevin McCarthy, the California Republican who, at 57, dreamed of succeeding Democrat Nancy Pelosi as Speaker of the House of Representatives , has failed. In large widths, and twice.
While he needed to secure 218 votes out of the 222 seats held by the new (and short) conservative majority, he only obtained 203, losing 19 support in the process, and – supreme snub – leaving his Democratic rival Hakeem Jeffries surpass him with 212 votes. Neither of the two men having reached the minimum required, a second round was immediately ordered, a scenario unheard of on Capitol Hill for a century. And again, McCarthy stopped at 203 votes, against 212 for Jeffries and 19 for his first right-wing rival, Jim Jordan.
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For Kevin McCarthy, the humiliation is total. Since entering the Capitol in 2007, the native of Bakersfield dreamed of becoming Speaker of the House of Representatives. In 2015, already, he had to give up, barred in his ambitions by the radicals of the Freedom Caucus who had just achieved the feat of dethroning the moderate John Boehner, before installing the young Paul Ryan, finally disavowed in turn in 2017 2023 should, in all political justice, have been McCarthy’s year. Under the Trump era, he had shrunk from no compromise, no indignity, to prepare for his logical ascent to the presidency of the House. He had, however, underestimated the contempt of the extremist fringe towards him. Taxed as a “RINO (Republican in name only)”, a moderate without strong conservative convictions, McCarthy had navigated on sight during the Trump era, proclaiming his allegiance to Donald Trump before briefly letting go after the assault on the Capitol on January 6, 2021. The following January 28, he bowed again before the ex-retiree in his den of Mar-a-lago, having realized that he had to garner the support of the “people of Trump”, alias the “MAGA”. (Make America Great Again) and their red caps.
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Never had a GOP (Grand Old Party) favorite looked weaker since the anonymous Frederick Gillett in 1923, who took 9 ballots to settle on the roost.
For McCarthy, the problem lies with members of the Freedom Caucus, the Republican extremist fringe in the House. The most audible members of this group, Andy Biggs, Paul Gosar, Matt Gaetz, Marjorie Taylor Greene and Lauren Boebert, judge him incapable of governing with the authority, and the tenacity, required if he managed to amass the majority of votes. after a third ballot. The complete and historic fiasco of this internal congressional election is in itself a victory for the Democrats, and the Biden Administration, happy to witness the decomposition of an opposition still orphaned by the leadership of Donald Trump, in ambush for the 2024 presidential election.
