Adam Schiff isn’t exactly impressed with the idea of House GOP leader Kevin McCarthy taking over as Speaker once the GOP takes their thin majority won in the midterms.
The GOP figurehead has a well-established history of capitulating to the interests of more extreme members of his party, perhaps most obviously exemplified by his widely maligned photo op with Trump at the former president’s southern Florida resort known as Mar-a-Lago not long after last year’s Capitol riot inspired by Donald’s lies about the 2020 election. McCarthy has also run cover for House GOP members like Marjorie Taylor Greene and Paul Gosar when they were faced with criticism over actions like posting a clip edited to depict taking violent action against Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez. “Kevin McCarthy is desperate to keep the support of Trump and his House backers,” Schiff said on Twitter. “He’ll do whatever Marjorie Taylor Greene and the QAnon caucus wants. And that means following the wishes of the lowest common denominator. Brace yourselves America. The clown car has come to town.”
The Speaker of the House is chosen by the chamber as a whole, and with multiple far-right members already expressing opposition to the idea of Kevin taking the role, circumstances suggest he’ll be looking for support just about wherever he can get it. McCarthy has already made other, more showy pledges about what GOP leadership of the chamber will mean — including restricting Democrats Schiff, Eric Swalwell, and Ilhan Omar from key committees. In theory, the chamber could with a GOP majority in charge take votes on the prospects of booting these members from any panel assignments, like the House did against Greene who faced concerns because of — among other things — having previously expressed apparent support via social media for physical violence against prominent Dems.
Schiff has faced Republican animosity over his handling of at least the Congressional portion of the Russia investigation, while Swalwell has received criticism after being among the government figures targeted by a spy with whom he cut off contact after authorities alerted him. As for Omar, she has been criticized with allegations of anti-Semitism and that she’s supposedly generally anti-American. (Remember Donald telling her and other women in Congress to “go back” to their places of origin although most were born in the United States and all were citizens?) She has also been the subject of right-wing conspiracy theories about her personal life. With the GOP also already making their intentions to investigate the Biden family clear, it might be two years of chaos — and not much in terms of substantively helping Americans with their everyday needs — in the House despite GOP insistence on talking about inflation as though they’re secretly working on it and about to reveal a plan… in just a few weeks…
