[Add your voice through the poll below]
Now that perhaps five Tea Party Caucus House members won’t vote for Kevin McCarthy as Speaker of the House as things currently stand, the gauntlet of leverage has been played. Their expectation, of course, is that McCarthy will fold quickly, grovel to accede to their demands, forcing the Republican Party further out on the limb of mindless extremism.
But what if leverage came from a different angle?
Hiding quietly in the back benches of the GOP side of the House floor, are there discrete members the #SecretSaneGOPCaucus, waiting for the right moment to extinguish #TheBigLie forever from the party platform? Do the most honorable members of the Republican Party have the courage to force out the lying zealots who’ve sent their GOP into a nose-dive, promoting only racism and false piety instead of working to actually achieve something?
If they’re ready to display a spine at last, they may have an ally in dumping Trumpism: outgoing House Speaker Nancy Pelosi.
Think about it. Pelosi has been revered for decades in her ability to pull Democrats together to push through broad-ranging legislation, keeping the progressives and the more corporatist members focused on long-term goals.
What if she were to pull off her biggest deal yet, to provide a pivotal chance for a sizable number of House Republicans to stand against the Trump-leaning leadership? They could be the honorable ones, joining Liz Cheney and Adam Kinsinger as some of the first potential leaders of the next iteration of the Republican Party after the Trump scourge is purged.
Ultimately, they would do their party a favor if they stood together, perhaps as the #GOP2020TruthCaucus, and voted as a block with the entire Democratic Caucus to elect their own choice as new Speaker. It might require that one within their number switch to Independent to allow their name to be included in the speakership vote.
But if they take that plunge, that first whack of the gavel in the new era would see the babbling voices of Marjorie Taylor Green, Lauren Boebert, Jim Jordan, and even Speaker hopeful Kevin McCarthy rendered moot.
If the GOP is to restore any shred of integrity, this is where that process can begin. And it can change the Republican political stage overnight.
Not only that, but this alliance, if it extends across to the other chamber, could include passing versions of the outgoing session’s HR 1 and HR 4, the Freedom to Vote Act and the John Lewis Voting Rights Advancement Act. Part of these bills would allow the GOP 2020 Truth Caucus to shed their shackles from corporate interests, eliminating private funding of campaigns. By turning all campaigns into publicly funded affairs, there would no longer be the GOP necessity for catering to big business and billionaires. And moderate voices could finally survive the primaries.
That support for election reform though, would likely come at a price as most deals do. Expect the partisan gerrymandering restrictions written out of what the House version takes to the floor. After all, a GOP 2020 TC will want to leave themselves a chance at retaining power once the cranky wankers like Boebert are purged in 2024 - if not before. More about that later.
What would Pelosi ask for in return for her caucus’s help beyond passing versions of HR 1 and HR 4? For starters, Nancy would demand that the next House session doesn’t spend two years trying to impeach Biden for nothing or hound Hunter for whatever they dream up. Also, there would be a requirement one would suspect for bipartisan passage of gun reform, abortion rights, and further climate action. Each would probably have to be watered down a bit so that this new brand of honorable Republicans could say that got something on their side.
This could provide their best opportunity to call out their #CORPservative leadership for proudly being the side of “no” for every Democratic proposal, when negotiated deals could actually help people. If this new breed of Republicans can be on the right side of climate volatility for a change, this will open the door to a more popular future.
And ultimately, that’s OK for Democrats. Risking an erosion of their power is worth saving the planet and civilization for future generations. But this new wave championing Republican integrity will have to be clean house - in both capitalized and non-capitalized senses of the word.
After all, the #SeditionCaucus, those who voted against both impeachment and ratification of state electors, still will be seated this week. They violated their oaths of office and voted against certifying the election using what each knew was a purely fabricated political excuse.
Some led tours of the Capitol. Some helped recruit or prepare fake electors. Some stood on the House floor and spread volatile lies they knew to be untrue with incitement as a goal. Even possible future Speaker McCarthy has blood on his hands in this.
These actions are all reason enough to be expelled from office. And if expelled, politicians can never again serve in Congress thereafter, because the 14th Amendment says that they lose that right.
The biggest hurdle though, is that for any expulsion to happen, a two-thirds vote in the House chamber is required. The newly minted 2020 GOP Truth Caucus needs to be large enough to provide that margin. Standing on the Trump coattails will be an increasingly slippery proposition, and it might take a Trump takedown through indictments to swing enough legislators to make the preemptive shift.
The Trump train wreck is about to happen. TFG will likely face charges first in Georgia, in New York State through his business scandals, and ultimately through the DOJ now that a Special Prosecutor has been chosen to follow through on at least four charges, including the squirreling away of Top Secret documents. Of the four, two would seem to be slam dunks - at least in terms of deciding whether to prosecute or not. Getting a jury to unanimously convict is a much bigger ask.
But indictments, discovery, and trials will all continue to tarnish the Trump brand. There will be a tipping point eventually. You can continue to put lipstick on a pig to hide the obvious, but eventually you run out of pig.
Could Pelosi really broker a deal to give some back-benchers on the House floor all the power to purge the most repulsive, hateful, unqualified ego-maniacs that have ever been seated there? And given this chance, why not pounce on it?
They may in fact like the act of governing instead of the blind allegiance to ultra-right doctrines that are losing steam in popularity. Maybe they don’t want the harness around their necks that links them to racists, cheaters, and bullies.
The new Speaker would, however, likely not expel too many Republicans to allow a temporary Dem majority while vacated seats await special elections.
Now is the time to stand up if they want to avoid being among the Trump faction of the GOP that will get sucked down the drain in Trump’s whirlpool of lies. If they are in comfortable seats at present, joining the GOP 2020 Truth Caucus may be the chance to vault into very agreeable positions for career advancement as implosion happens within their ranks all around them.
And strangely, their long-term success may hinge on offering bipartisan support that allows Democrats to achieve key goals. While a small fringe of their base will cling to hateful absolutism, abhorring every Dem idea, a reborn Republican Party will like sharing credit as people’s lives and prospects improve. That would even lend itself towards their perceived edge in religious piety, at last true comforters of the poor and infirm.
But this all has to start in mere hours. Make it happen, Nancy. Imagine all the headaches looming with a McCarthy speakership that can be deftly avoided. Our nation, and our planet, would be better for it.