Dancing as fast as he can

Created
Sat, 24/06/2023 - 03:30
Updated
Sat, 24/06/2023 - 03:30
Donald Trump once told his ecstatic rally goers his philosophy of life: My whole life, you know what I say? ‘Don’t worry about it, I’ll just figure it out.’” It’s worked for him up until now. As it happens one of his top proteges, “My Kevin” McCarthy has adopted the same attitude. Punchbowl reports: Speaker Kevin McCarthy’s long-term strategy is this — he has no long-term strategy. The California Republican has shown, to a remarkable degree, that his day-to-day, week-to-week style in running the House is to essentially push through — to just keep dancing — and deal with problems as they come. Get through today and worry about what happens next when it happens. McCarthy won the speaker’s gavel in January after 15 grueling rounds of voting, granting a host of concessions to the conservatives in the process. These promises put McCarthy on a collision course with President Joe Biden and the Democrats over the debt limit, yet McCarthy had finally become speaker, his longtime goal. McCarthy then cut a deal with Biden to set FY2024 spending levels in order to defuse the debt-limit crisis, only to reverse direction just weeks later when conservatives complained. The $100 billion-plus difference in spending levels could result in a government shutdown in the fall — but McCarthy will have to deal with it then. Just this week, McCarthy derailed an attempt to impeach Biden by redirecting the effort to some House committees. Eventually that bill will come due; a huge chunk of House Republicans want to launch a quixotic effort to…