Far-right Reps. Marjorie Taylor Greene (R-Ga.) and Paul Gosar (R-Ariz.) are untouchable inside the House Republican conference.But what happens next year when, inevitably, Republicans retake the House? Greene and Gosar will be given committee assignments again. McCarthy has to agree to this if he wants to win enough votes to be Speaker. He'll need to keep the two them happy. He knows that far-rightists essentially deposed John Boehner and helped drive Paul Ryan from politics. McCarthy will want to continue having no enemies on the right. So I assume that Greene and Gosar will do whatever they please while serving on committees, and that in order to be removed from committees again they'll have to do something so outrageous that twenty or thirty Republicans will join with the Democrats to remove them (which won't happen).
... Greene and Gosar can attend as many white supremacist conferences as their hearts desire, safe in the knowledge there's nothing they need from leadership — and nothing left for leadership to take from them.
They've already been stripped of their committees. They have zero need or interest in leadership's endorsements or money. And their power actually comes from offending Republican leadership in Washington.
"They literally have nothing tangible [to punish them] in terms of the traditional congressional levers," a GOP leadership source told Axios.
We'll just get used to the idea that they can't be punished, and the most we can expect is that McCarthy will assure us he's giving them stern lectures about proper conduct. Maybe there'll be a censure or two. But there won't be more because McCarthy will want to keep his job -- and this might not be enough to prevent his defenestration by the crazies.
No comments:
Post a Comment