Kevin McCarthy’s legacy
This week, former Speaker of the House Kevin McCarthy gave his final speech on the House floor.
He said in part, “If you come across that question of whether you should do what’s right out of fear of losing your job, do it anyways. Because it’s the right thing to do, and this is what the nation requires. … I would do it all again.”
So as McCarthy prepares to step down at the end of the year, I think it is the perfect time to look back at his legacy … and to examine what he says he would do “all again.”
Remember, at one point, this guy was one of the “young guns” with Paul Ryan and Eric Cantor: the future leaders of the Republican Party.
And why was McCarthy a part of that group? Because his political superpower was raising money. He was one of the best rainmakers for the Republican Party in decades — in part because he could be a political chameleon. He knew how to tell everyone what they wanted to hear.
And that served him well — until Jan. 6, 2021. Then, he tried to have it both ways. He told Liz Cheney (according to her firsthand account in her new book) that Donald Trump “knows it’s over … he needs to go through all the stages of grief.” McCarthy also told Cheney that he had plans to move forward with the vote to certify — which of course was a lie.
And then, not only did he vote with the objectors, but when a number of private-sector companies said they wouldn’t contribute to lawmakers who had failed to certify, McCarthy decided to double down on a different route to being a rainmaker.
That led to his trip to visit Trump at Mar-a-Lago (according to Cheney’s account) — because if he couldn’t raise money from traditional Republicans, he needed to go full MAGA and raise money that way!
Why was he doing all of this? Well, because he was desperate to hold on to power. He wanted to be the leader of the Republican House, and eventually the speaker.
At the end of all of that, his soul-selling did get him…
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