By Ken Afor
Kevin McCarthy, a Republican, achieved his goal of becoming House speaker early this year by riding the far-right US political tiger led by Donald Trump.
The ‘tiger’ later changed its mind and devoured him on Tuesday.
The 55th speaker of the US House of Representatives was ousted in a surprise vote brought about by party rebels who have been fuming for the nine months since McCarthy narrowly defeated their attempts to stop him and managed to claim the most powerful position in Congress.
No Speaker in US history has ever been removed from office; the Speaker is the second-highest ranking federal official after the President.
“I fought for what I believe in,” McCarthy said. “I believe I can continue to fight, but maybe in a different manner.”
A lawmaker who made his name as a so-called conservative “Young Gun” only to get battered by his party’s shifting political currents saw an unseemly end to his tenure – for the time being, at least.
After the riot at the US Capitol on January 6, 2021, he had criticized Trump like many other members of Congress. The aspirational lawmaker quickly realized that the tide was turning and changed his course, traveling in the public eye to Florida to make amends with Trump. By doing this, he gained support that was essential to his bid for the speakership.
McCarthy, 58, eventually got what he wanted, but he then had to deal with an unsettling truth: going forward, his hold on power would be at the whim of his party’s burn-down-the-house hardliners.
He entered a tense standoff with Democratic President Joe Biden in May over approving an increase in the debt ceiling.
While he hailed it as a victory for conservatives — and good governance — he faced criticism from hardliners who claimed he had made too many concessions on spending cuts. He struck an 11th-hour deal to avert a catastrophic US debt default.
When he used votes from the opposition party to prevent a government shutdown last week, his limited engagement with Democrats came under fire once more from the far-right.
Hardliners and Trump, who advocated harsh tactics in an effort to compel significant spending cuts and reduce the nation’s $31 trillion or more in debt, were defied by the decision.
Although McCarthy has referred to himself as an “optimist,” the hard-line right wing of the Republican Party, which grew under Trump and has never subsided, cannot be appeased.
He had to win a record 15 rounds of voting just to win the speakership in January, and only after giving in to a group of about 20 far-right Republicans did he finally prevail.
Analysts at the time immediately foresaw how this would ultimately come back to haunt McCarthy by giving the hardliners the upper hand.
One of those concessions was a rule change that allows just one disgruntled member to demand a vote for a new speaker of the House, essentially hanging McCarthy out to dry.
McCarthy was fired on Tuesday after backbencher Matt Gaetz, a Trump supporter and rising star of the far-right, capitalized on that change and filed the fictitious motion to vacate the chair.
“Kevin McCarthy is a creature of the swamp. He has risen to power by collecting special interest money and redistributing that money in exchange for favors. We are breaking the fever now,” Gaetz told reporters after the vote.
By preside over House proceedings and being second in line for the presidency after the vice president, the speaker has enormous influence in Washington.
McCarthy has nothing stopping him from running for speaker once more. But the real question is: will his party be able to put aside its internal conflicts and return the gavel to him, or will they look elsewhere for leadership?
McCarthy, who represents the conservative community of Bakersfield in liberal California, has spent the majority of his adult life in politics. He has served as a state legislator and a US representative in Washington.
McCarthy, a working-class boy and the son of a firefighter and a cattle rancher, was raised in a family.
He wedded his high school sweetheart, and the couple continues to reside in the first home they ever bought, where they raised two kids.
Unlike the previous three speakers, McCarthy, who was first elected to Congress in 2006, has not chaired a House committee and has no notable legislative accomplishments to his credit.
The silver-haired, immaculately dressed lawmaker, however, is a consummate networker who is praised for his prodigious fundraising
