Analysis: Fights over Greene and Cheney are bad
news for a weakened McCarthy, less of a problem for McConnell.
Democrats hurtled toward a Thursday vote on stripping
committee assignments from Representative Marjorie Taylor Greene, Republican of
Georgia, over comments and social media posts promoting QAnon conspiracies and
anti-Jewish tropes.
https://www.nytimes.com/live/2021/02/04/us/joe-biden-trump-impeachment
It comes a
day after Republicans rejected attempts to oust Representative Liz Cheney, a
Wyoming Republican, from a top leadership post. She is one of the few in her
party to risk political peril by rebuking former President Donald J. Trump and
voting to impeach him.
Both sagas
have far-reaching implications for power players in post-Trump Washington. Here
are four takeaways.
Representative
Kevin McCarthy, the minority leader, has been seriously weakened. Seldom in
recent congressional history has a leader had to scramble so desperately just
to get through a day. And the ugly, humbling fights over Ms. Greene and Ms.
Cheney proved that the House Republican leader from California remains trapped
in Mr. Trump’s shadow.
Since the
Jan. 6 riot at the Capitol, Mr. McCarthy has sent out mixed messages on how he
planned to lead: First, he said that Mr. Trump “bears responsibility,” for the
attack, then he visited Mar-a-Lago to make nice after the former president
grumbled.
He was
equally equivocal with members of his fractious caucus, expressing disapproval
of Ms. Greene — but stopping well short of threatening to strip her of all committee
assignments, a step he was willing to take a year ago against Representative
Steve King of Iowa over remarks on white supremacy.
Mr.
McCarthy got a mild reprieve when Ms. Greene showed some contrition in a
private meeting Wednesday. But in seeking short-term safety to appease the
party’s right, Mr. McCarthy is courting peril in the 2020 midterm elections —
and the image of Republicans offering a standing ovation to a woman who
suggested political opponents be executed will linger, to say the least.
It is not
nearly so bad for Senator Mitch McConnell of Kentucky. The Senate minority
leader, facing a grim second Trump impeachment trial next week, truly deplores
Ms. Greene and made a point of describing her (albeit not by name) as a
“cancer” in the party.
But the
current crisis is not without potential opportunity for Mr. McConnell, a far
more deft political operator than Mr. McCarthy. Bashing Ms. Greene gives
besieged Senate Republicans a safe way to vent their anger over the Capitol
riot and disapproval of Mr. Trump’s political influence — even if they don’t
vote to punish him directly in the trial.
Drawing
that line is vital for Mr. McConnell, whose unwillingness to publicly reject
Mr. Trump’s false claims of a stolen election is will most likely hound him in
the history books.
It’s a
mixed bag for Speaker Nancy Pelosi of California. Mr. McCarthy’s unwillingness
to punish his own member forced the Democratic speaker to impose her own
penalties — a step she had hoped to avoid to evade accusations that she was
motivated by politics.
The move
also provided an opening for several pro-Trump Republicans to counterattack by
calling for Representative Ilhan Omar, a Minnesota Democrat who has long been a
Trump target, to be stripped of her committee posts.
Still,
Democrats see mostly political upsides and plan to make Ms. Greene and QAnon a
centerpiece of their 2022 strategy.
Ms. Greene
won’t be silenced, and neither will Ms. Cheney. It is tempting to attribute Ms.
Greene’s rapid rise to social media. But there is a long history of new House
members and senators — including Huey Long — using new forms of communication
(handbills and paid airtime on radio stations in his case) to bypass and
challenge their party’s leadership.
Yet no
member in memory has made the kind of violent, inflammatory or bizarre
pronouncements made by the Georgia freshman.
Her apology
on Wednesday indicates she values her committee assignments. But it is just as
likely that she values her space in the spotlight — and it remains to be seen
if Ms. Greene is serious about abandoning her old opinions, or her instant
fame.
Ms. Cheney
is holding fast to her principles, however, countering Mr. McCarthy’s claim
that Wednesday proved the party was unified and fit to move forward.
— Glenn Thrush
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