It wasn’t exactly the ‘shot heard all over the world’. But when Dave Bratt defeated then-House Majority Leader Eric Cantor, his second highest-ranked House Republican, in a shocking upset primary on June 10, 2014. , it was undeniably the first salvo of another war. This war was not a battle for a new country, but a battle for a new leader. He is the Republican leader of the House of Representatives after the Tea Party.
It’s been over eight years since Bratt defeated Cantor. Meanwhile, Trump administrations can come, go, and come back. But the war still rages on. Many Tea Party Republicans now call themselves America First Republicans and have won several battles. The self-proclaimed trio of Paul Ryan, Eric Cantor, and Kevin McCarthy published a book calling themselves “a new generation of conservative leaders.”
Except they weren’t. After his wave of 2010, it quickly became clear to millions of Republican supporters that they were neither conservatives nor leaders. The trio rallied under Ohio moderate John Boehner as Speaker of the House, pledging allegiance and lining up faithfully to their comfortable administration appointments.
Since then, Boehner, McCarthy, Kanter and Ryan have gone from compromise to compromise rather than strength to strength, selling out bases at nearly every turn. They made multiple deals with President Barack Obama and Senate Majority Leader Harry Reed (D-Nevada) to keep the gravy train moving. They succumbed to immigration, debt ceilings, segregation, and more.
Finally, after four years of disappointment, Virginia’s 7th congressional district, a single congressional district, said it was enough. Bratt, an economics professor at a local university, is implementing America’s top immigration and trade policies, and has beaten Kanter.
report of new york timesJonathan Martin wrote:
The result shocked Republicans — Kanter was widely considered to be the successor to Speaker of the House John A. Boehner — and it could change both the immigration debate in Washington and possibly the midterm elections. conceals sexuality. .
Cantor’s defeat shocked Washington. And in many ways it was a precursor to an even bigger shock, the victory of Donald Trump.
After the 2014 midterm elections, the House Liberal Caucus was formed to serve as a conservative, populist thorn for the remainder of Boehner’s term.
Although not one of the Young Guns, Boehner was indeed their leader. And then he was. On July 28, 2015, Congressman Mark Meadows (RN.C.) submitted a motion to vacate the chair. Realizing that he had nothing to do, Boehner actively chose to resign.
After Boehner’s resignation, many thought Kevin McCarthy would be a shot at the speaker’s seat. That was until he suddenly withdrew his name from consideration. “If we are to unite and become stronger, we need new faces to help us. So there is nothing more.'” Prophetic words.
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Another Young Gun was down, but not out. In his place, Paul Ryan (apparently reluctantly) came out on top. Ryan became Speaker of the House on October 29, 2015. The neoconservatives are finally king of the hill.
As a speaker, Ryan opposed Trump in the Republican presidential primary. But Trump emerged victorious. In a surprisingly generous turn, he endorsed Ryan as a speaker again in his 2017.
Ryan took charge again, but was released on bail early in the midterm elections and announced he would retire after 2018. Republicans lost control of the House in these midterm elections. They lost again in his 2020. But finally, after winning a majority in 2022, they are poised to take back the chairman’s gavel when Congress reconstitutes for his 118th Congress in January 2023. Again, the speakership is unbalanced.
who will take it? Canter is gone. Boehner is gone. Ryan is gone. and good redance. But the last Young Gun is still desperately reaching for its gavel. McCarthy is clamoring for a chance to finally wield the political power he so deeply desired since his first election in 2006.
If a House Republican was smart, listened to voters, and put America first, he would say “no.” They flatly refuse to give him the gavel, ending the failed Young Gun experiments once and for all.
As it stands, McCarthy knows he doesn’t have the right to vote. Neither should he. Daniel Horowitz said McCarthy “has overseen the failed Republican game for the majority since then, both as leader and whip of the majority. Now, after failing to score the ‘first goal’ in this election, , I want a promotion,” he said. Moreover, as Horowitz documented in his article, “McCarthy passed the budget bill with Democrat support during the Trump era.”
Every major budget bill passed under McCarthy’s leadership as the last Republican House Majority Leader was at a time when Republicans dominated three straight victories and commanded complete control of policy, leading to Republican support. More support for Democrats than
Russ VoughtPresident of the Center for Renewing America. McCarthy is the furthest thing from this, the same old, same old one-party system that has for decades turned the attention of the DC Beltway Cartel to its members in the center. represents the
The Tea Party wave that handed over the House to Republicans in 2010 hit disappointing numbers for Kanter, Ryan, Boehner and McCarthy. That frustration with both our country’s future and the reckless leadership of the Republicans in Congress, stymied, boiled down, boiled over and reconstituted into the America First phenomenon that put Donald Trump in the White House . Despite this lesson, too many House Republicans seem eager to return to the McCarthy system’s failing ways.
Given the remaining two years of a failed Biden administration, House Republicans must choose wisely. There is no room for error and no reason to justify the status quo. They advocate a paradigm shift that will use all available power to bring about results and justice for Americans suffering under the heavy hand of the Unity Party in Washington, D.C. and its figurehead, President Joe Biden. You have to choose your speakers. Perhaps McCarthy may have had the power to do such a task in the past, but now there is no doubt. is not.
House Republicans should not promote McCarthy. In January, this last young goose should be pastured instead. McCarthy was right in 2015 and still is. House Republicans need new faces. It’s time for a new speaker. The House Republican meeting would be better off for that, and so would the country.
William Wolfe is a 10-plus year veteran of the conservative movement, having worked for three different legislators in Heritage Action, in the Trump administration at the State Department, and as an Assistant Secretary of Defense at the Pentagon. He is currently a Visiting Scholar at the Center for Renewing America.
The views expressed in this article are those of the author.