Thursday open thread: Swing and a miss
Kevin "Steve" McCarthy, so-called Republican leader in the House, thought he was slick. He appointed the likes of Jim "Gym" Jordan to the select committee investigating the January 6th Insurrection. He thought that Speaker Nancy Pelosi would be forced to go along with his ridiculous, destructive choices to preserve "bipartisanship".
Instead, Pelosi torpedoed two of his choices, including Jordan. There was no way she was going to allow someone who might be a material witness to the crime serve on the investigative committee. Stevie, in a fit of pique, then withdrew all his nominees, and swore that he would carry out his own investigation.
The great and good blue checks on Twitter immediately brayed that this was genius on McCarthy's part, and that Pelosi walked into a trap. Can we cut the shit, please?
McCarthy tried to sabotage the select committee at the behest of his Saruman, Donald Trump. He failed. Now he has no one on the committee, is made to look like an unserious fool, and yet he's "winning". Our political press is predisposed to Republican narratives. That's a given. But any objective analysis of what happened yesterday would show that Pelosi holds all the cards. And we know this because Stevie has been whining nonstop since yesterday, casting anathema on the committee. He knows it's going to go ahead, and he knows that once it gets started, it will drive the narrative, not whatever pathetic "investigation" he puts forward. The first session on July 27th will feature testimony from police officers involved in the insurrection. That will make for compelling, edge-of-your-seat television. And with none of McCarthy's poison picks on the committee, the hearing won't be turned into a clown show. Of course, Pelosi is now free to appoint Republicans to the committee in the mold of Liz Cheney, who were as angered by the insurrection as any real American.
Far from this being a brilliant move by Stevie, this was another of his blunders in service to an Orange Julius. McCarthy lobbied against the bipartisan commission at Trump's orders, a commission in which Republicans would have had quite a bit of authority. Once he did that, he wasn't going to be able to then accede to the select committee. His five nominees were designed to make a travesty of it, and Pelosi was going to have none of that. McCarthy's actions don't show strength or strategic acumen; they're desperate actions, meant to stave off the inevitable. They're the actions of a man beholden to a monster, trying to put off being eaten by one more day.
McCarthy doesn't have the stones to face off with a toddler, much less Nancy Pelosi. Don't listen to the usual suspects; the GOP lost yesterday.
This is your open thread.