Current Events > CNN Op-Ed: How Democrats just helped the MAGA wing of Congress

(+) Yeah! (+)

Editors Note: Editors Note: Patrick T. Brown is a fellow at the Ethics and Public Policy Center, a conservative think tank and advocacy group based in Washington, DC. He is also a former senior policy adviser to Congress Joint Economic Committee.

Two months before the 2022 midterms, President Joe Biden stood flanked by two US Marines in front of Independence Hall in Philadelphia and issued some of the harshest words of his presidency.
Donald Trump and the MAGA Republicans represent an extremism that threatens the very foundations of our republic, Biden intoned, calling extreme MAGA Republicans a clear and present danger to our democracy.
Clearly, some in the presidents party missed the memo.
On Tuesday, Democrats in the House decided to side with eight Republicans who voted to remove their follow party member, Rep. Kevin McCarthy (R-CA), from his role as speaker. Instead of siding with stability, Democrats chose to double down on partisanship. For the party that has talked repeatedly about wanting to restore norms of good government, it was a cynical display of short-term political gain at the expense of the long-term functioning of our political institutions.
To be clear, the predicament originated with Rep. Matt Gaetz (R-FL), one of the MAGA-type Republicans Biden seemed to be referencing and a consistent thorn in the side of McCarthy since the infamous 15 ballots it took for McCarthy to secure the speakership in January. As I wrote for CNN at the time, McCarthys travails illustrate how trying to lead in an era when parties and institutions are held captive by an anti-establishment mentality will be a continual exercise in frustration.
Over the past 10 months, Gaetz held the threat of a motion to vacate the ability to call a vote at any time to oust the speaker over McCarthy like the sword of Damocles. The California Republicans decision last weekend to rely on Democratic votes to avoid a government shutdown was the weapon Gaetz needed to make good on his threat.
Gaetzs move gave Democrats an opportunity to reward McCarthy for having kept the government open. Two-hundred-and-nine Democrats joined 126 Republicans to pass the last-minute deal that averted a shutdown, and many were initially cautiously open to securing a deal to save McCarthys speakership. I think if hes willing to work together on things, a member of Congress told CNN at the time, there will be enough of us to protect him.
Michael Wear, a speaker and strategist at the intersection of faith and politics, who previously led faith outreach for President Barack Obamas 2012 reelection campaign, was not alone in being hopeful that McCarthys decision to introduce a stop-gap spending measure in a bipartisan manner, and Democrats willingness to sign onto it, signaled promise for those who want our politics to choose something greater than partisan warfare.
Alas, those hopes were not fulfilled. House Democrats acted as enablers for those Republicans who sought McCarthys ouster, effectively helping to punish him for compromising on keeping the government open.
Admittedly, there had already been no shortage of bad blood between McCarthy and Democrats, who were perturbed by his willingness to indulge his right flank, his flip-flop on whether Trump should be considered responsible for the events of January 6, 2021, and his launch of an impeachment inquiry against Biden even before the possibility of a shutdown picked up speed. And then, in the days surrounding the bipartisan spending deal, Democrats were reportedly angered not just by McCarthys chaotic process for passing the deal, but also by a CBS interview in which McCarthy blamed them, rather than his far-right flank, for the prospect of a shutdown.
Democrats also argued that an intra-caucus squabble was something for which Republicans owned responsibility. It was McCarthys choice to empower [the right wing] further, Democratic Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez of New York postedon X, formerly Twitter. He protected them & punished those who bucked Trump. Hes not a victim.
But Democrats didnt have to like McCarthy or approve of everything hes done to understand that his ouster only empowers the MAGA Republicans decried by Biden and opposed by Ocasio-Cortez as one of the gravest threats facing the country.
Gaetz is the loudest voice of a small coalition of Republicans who seem to care less about specific policy than in delivering on an uncompromising approach to politics and, along the way, burnishing their brand for social media, cable news hits or future runs for office. Republicans threatening retribution in the form of cutting off fundraising dollars or supporting primary opponents against Gaetz, Rep. Nancy Mace [(R-SC)] and others who participated in the revolt are right to do so. But given the Republicans narrow majority and the partys lack of a unifying vision, it seems likely this faction will exhibit the same behavior when the next speaker is chosen.
A little bipartisanship could have thwarted their attempt. Democrats didnt even have to affirmatively support McCarthy; simply voting present would have lowered the threshold necessary for the former speaker to maintain a majority. Instead, Democrats helped those they see as extreme MAGA Republicans while allowing the House to be thrown into chaos amid the fraught prospect of choosing a new speaker as the clock ticks down to the next shutdown deadline.
Through the lens of crass electoral politics, Democrats may have calculated correctly, at least in the short term. The latest Gallup poll shows that the percentage of Americans who say they trust Republicans to manage the economy over Democrats is at an all-time high. Allowing Republicans to shoot themselves in the foot surely helps strengthen the Democrats argument that voters shouldnt entrust them with control of Congress. Democrats can also tell their base they kept their hands pure rather than casting a vote for a speaker many progressives saw as morally compromised.
But whats best for the Democratic Party is not whats best for the country, and its hypocritical for Democrats not to acknowledge that. It is highly unlikely that McCarthys replacement will be any more amenable to working across the aisle than the California Republican was. He or she will be beholden to the same forces that made McCarthys job near-impossible, just like former Speakers John Boehner and Paul Ryan before him. The result will likely be future deadlock, a political process that works even less well and a long-term degradation of the constitutional order in which neither party sees any gain in doing the right thing instead of taking a cheap win.
Biden, like other Democrats, has made political hay out of claiming that todays GOP aint your fathers Republican Party. Perhaps thats so. But if they truly long for the purported halcyon days of political compromise and sober government, siding with a handful of Republican renegades to throw the business of the House into disarray is a funny way of showing it. When faced with the choice to reward bipartisanship or exploit GOP divisions for political gains, Democrats chose the latter.

I hate it when somebody tries to both sides things. It was entirely McCarthy and the rest of the House GOPs fault for this situation. No one else.

But Democrats didnt have to like McCarthy or approve of everything hes done to understand that his ouster only empowers the MAGA Republicans decried by Biden and opposed by Ocasio-Cortez as one of the gravest threats facing the country.
Gaetz is the loudest voice of a small coalition of Republicans who seem to care less about specific policy than in delivering on an uncompromising approach to politics and, along the way, burnishing their brand for social media, cable news hits or future runs for office. Republicans threatening retribution in the form of cutting off fundraising dollars or supporting primary opponents against Gaetz, Rep. Nancy Mace [(R-SC)] and others who participated in the revolt are right to do so. But given the Republicans narrow majority and the partys lack of a unifying vision, it seems likely this faction will exhibit the same behavior when the next speaker is chosen.

Considering Biden agreed to build the MAGA wall, I'd say it's pretty fair to hold "both sides" accountable on a few things.

Patrick T. Brown is a fellow at the Ethics and Public Policy Center, a conservative think tank

Took all of 5 minutes to find out this dude's a climate denier

But complicating that narrative is the fact that Malone has repeatedly wished, in public, for CNN to remake itself. And his prescription happens to sync with the new CNN agenda: a plan to steer the channel away from what Malone and others call a liberal bias they say muddles opinion and news. And to shift it toward a supposedly centrist, just-the-facts bent.

I do believe the dems would have been better off keeping McCarthy in than potentially having to deal with Jim Jordan or someone of his ilk as speaker.

everyone should stop right there

I do believe the dems would have been better off keeping McCarthy in than potentially having to deal with Jim Jordan or someone of his ilk as speaker.

I do believe the dems would have been better off keeping McCarthy in than potentially having to deal with Jim Jordan or someone of his ilk as speaker.

It was not Democrats job to save McCarthy's ass.

If AOC and The Squad tried to oust Nancy Pelosi as speaker, 100% guarantee Republicans would do the exact same thing

Editors Note: Editors Note: Patrick T. Brown is a fellow at the Ethics and Public Policy Center, a conservative think tank and advocacy group based in Washington, DC. He is also a former senior policy adviser to Congress Joint Economic Committee.

everyone should stop right there

If AOC and The Squad tried to oust Nancy Pelosi as speaker, 100% guarantee Republicans would do the exact same thing

Patrick T. Brown is a fellow at ... a conservative think tank and advocacy group based in Washington, DC.

1. McCarthy had already burned bridges with the Democrats. The idea that they were supposed to help him remain speaker when he wasn't going to do shit for them in return is stupid.
2. If House Republicans elect a MAGA extremist as speaker that's on them. They're the ones with the majority in the House. Who House Republicans choose as their speaker is a reflection on House Republicans and no one else.

Have you heard Jim Jordan speak?

Editors Note: Patrick T. Brown is a fellow at the Ethics and Public Policy Center, a conservative think tank and advocacy group based in Washington, DC. He is also a former senior policy adviser to Congress Joint Economic Committee.

I do believe the dems would have been better off keeping McCarthy in than potentially having to deal with Jim Jordan or someone of his ilk as speaker.

There's supposed to be a line between giving voice to all views and legitimizing bad faith actors, and far too often does today's "liberal" media find itself on the wrong side of that line.