House Speaker Kevin McCarthy is keeping his word to radicals who put him in power and rewarding those who can keep him there, paving a smooth start to his tenure that may, however, be storing up trouble down the road.
The California Republican handed hard-right House members with plum committee assignments, dumped several high-profile Democrats from key panels to please the conservative media universe, launched investigations into the “weaponization” of government against Republicans like former President Donald Trump and gave a pass to Georgia Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene when she heckled President Joe Biden during the State of the Union address or suggested “national divorce” between red and blue states. He’s refused to demand the resignation of New York Rep. George Santos, a serial fabulist, who might be an embarrassment but whose seat remains critical to the GOP’s tiny majority.
This week, in his most stunning move yet, McCarthy is giving Fox News host Tucker Carlson exclusive access to security footage of the January 6, 2021, US Capitol insurrection. The move may fuel Carlson’s false claims and conspiracies about a heinous attack on American democracy. The Fox primetime star has in the past baselessly claimed people working for the FBI orchestrated the invasion of Congress.
McCarthy is currying favor with a past critic and supremely powerful media host he’d love to get on his side as he tries to rule his conference and court the conservative base. He’s already used the effort in fundraising appeals. And his move may also help whitewash Trump’s culpability for the insurrection, weeks after the ex-president played a role in helping him win the speakership.
After appeasing demands from GOP holdouts and finally securing the speakership on the 15th roll call vote last month, McCarthy’s opponents argue that he’s now cravenly paying back…
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