You see a lot of “news” stories and editorials these days lamenting the “chaos” infesting the House of Representatives, which is without a Speaker and is thus unable to function normally. Of course, many of these crocodile tears are being shed by Democrats and leftists, who abhor the work that the Republican-led House does when it manages to function, so the genuineness of these concerns is questionable, on the face of it. Do these Democrats want the House to “get on with” the important job of impeaching Joe Biden, or curbing illegal immigration, or cutting federal spending? Heck no, they don't! But the temporary suspension of normal House operations is still, allegedly, a national, global, and possibly even intergalactic crisis of gargantuan proportions. Please!
Equally upsetting to these pearl-clutchers is the fact that the House is not speedily approving new funding for the war in Ukraine and the Israel-Hamas conflict. The prospect that America's allies in either theater will run out of bullets or lose their respective wars because of Congressional neglect is nil, of course, and everyone in the know in Washington is well aware of this. But still the doomsayers are apoplectic.
Most disingenuous of all, however, is the argument that goes something like this: “Do you realize that if something happens to Joe, Kamala will be in charge, and if something happens to her, the Speaker of the House becomes President? And here we are, without one. Tell Congress to stop playing politics and get it done! We are on the brink of disaster, and this is no time for games or letting personal ideology override responsibility to the nation.” This was posted by a friend of mine on Facebook, whose name I shall of course omit to protect the innocent, but I assume that all or part of it was reposted from a mainstream media source or a particularly neurotic social media troll.
Let's consider the argument in detail, however, because it is being repeated ad infinitum, especially by Democrats.
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Are we “on the brink of disaster”? Well, due to Joe Biden's, uhh, leadership, we may be, but what this has to do with the presidential line of succession is unclear. We are certainly not “on the brink” of a vacancy in the office of President of the United States. Sleepy Joe, for all his obsolescent charm, is still very much alive, and in fact he is clinging to the presidency with almost maniacal ferocity. The chances that he will die, imminently, and then Kamala Harris will also expire, are so infinitesimal as to be, well, negligible. In short, the probability that Kevin McCarthy, or Steve Scalise, or Jim Jordan will become president is close to absolute zero, so what's all the fuss about?
What's more, the argument that the stalemate on the question of who will be Speaker imperils the presidential line of succession ignores the fact that the formula for succession includes way more than just two people – the Vice-President and the Speaker of the House. Third in line to be president is Patty Murray, a Democratic Senator who also serves as “President pro tempore” of the Senate, and fourth is the Secretary of State, in this case Antony Blinken. In fact, every person in the line of succession is currently a Democrat, or a Biden-appointee, which amounts to the same thing, except for the Speaker of the House, who would be, and will be, in the fullness of time, a Republican. So are we to believe, then, that Democrats and progressives are getting the vapors because, due to the Speakership melodrama, there is now a precisely zero chance that the president in the next few weeks or months will be a Republican, instead of an almost zero chance, which is what would normally obtain if a GOP Speaker was in place?
No, in fact, this argument is utterly absurd, baseless, and phony. It raises hackles pointlessly without referencing any substantial and genuine harm or danger that looms over this country. More to the point, it raises the blood pressure, completely unnecessarily, of anyone naive enough to watch what passes for broadcast “news” in America, and who may therefore assume that the nation is constantly “on the brink of disaster” when nothing could be further from the truth – or, if it is true, it is for reasons that the mainstream media would never admit or acknowledge.
Someday soon, of course, we will have a Speaker, and average Americans will notice little change in their daily lives, believe it or not. They will, however, notice a major course correction in much media coverage of the House of Representatives, which will dutifully insist that the actions of the new Speaker are, if anything, a far bigger threat to “democracy” than the vacancy in the office ever was...
Dr. Nicholas L. Waddy is an Associate Professor of History at SUNY Alfred and blogs at: www.waddyisright.com. He appears on the Newsmaker Show on WLEA 1480/106.9.
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