You know the saying, ‘be careful what you wish for,’ right? I wanted total gridlock for Christmas—and I got it, though I wanted the GOP to have elected a House speaker before gumming up the works for Joe Biden. On its face, the ongoing circus regarding the Republican Party’s inability to get Rep. Kevin McCarthy (R-CA) over the top is embarrassing. It provides validation to the legions of voters who, while not Biden supporters, were wary of Congress descending into total mayhem under a Republican majority. Then again, McCarthy did this to himself, accruing years of distrust from fellow Republican members for being a mediocre figure in the party’s upper crust—he burned too many bridges. The 20 Republicans in lockstep against his speakership bid are united in their doubt about him and personal animosity. One way to further entrench their opposition is to call them terrorists, which some members of the GOP House caucus have already done.
Yet, one Twitter thread by Shant Mesrobian highlighted how this is good for a functioning democracy while adding that the gloating from the Democratic Party only exposes how they’ve lost touch with what democratic governance looks like anymore. The Republican Party has halted the establishment party train, arguably derailing their scheme—for now—to install McCarthy. For Democrats, it’s ‘join us or die’—there is no choice. It’s an authoritarian ethos that keeps liberals in line, which is fine, but more in keeping with the governments in Iran and North Korea.
"It's rather pathetic to watch Democrats and leftists gloating about the fact that the Republican Party seems to still allow for a tiny amount of dissent and debate while their own party is an absolute authoritarian borg that demands lockstep allegiance from its members," he wrote.
It's rather pathetic to watch Democrats and leftists gloating about the fact that the Republican Party seems to still allow for a tiny amount of dissent and debate while their own party is an absolute authoritarian borg that demands lockstep allegiance from its members.
— Shant Mesrobian (@ShantMM) January 3, 2023
"Ha ha their party has a populist faction that is effective at challenging establishment leadership and extracting concessions. What losers! Pass the popcorn amirite?"
— Shant Mesrobian (@ShantMM) January 3, 2023
This is mostly the product of educated elites simply having no idea or conception of what democratic government even looks like any more
— Shant Mesrobian (@ShantMM) January 3, 2023
"It's so cool that my party voted in lockstep to elect a guy named, uh...[checks notes]...Hakeem Jeffries...a guy who no one had ever heard of a couple of years ago and was hand selected by the current leader. We're amazing." Lmao.
— Shant Mesrobian (@ShantMM) January 3, 2023
The only issue with the rebels’ plan is that they don’t have anyone who can get 218 votes to be speaker on their end, so while I’m enjoying watching them torch the establishment GOP—this must end at some point. When that happens remains to be seen, I’d thought they’d get exhausted by the fourth ballot. We’ve had six, and they’ve remained firm in their position that McCarthy needs to end his speakership ambitions.
McCarthy, too, has a role in this fiasco, as he knew he didn’t have the votes coming into this fight. His backstop was that Rep. Hakeem Jeffries (D-NY), the newly minted leader of House Democrats, didn’t have the votes either, so he banked on a war of attrition. Eventually, his detractors would tire and get in line; that hasn’t happened.
