Don’t yell at me. Hear me out first.
This diary starts with the basic premise Kevin McCarthy will not be the next Speaker of the House. It’s not going to happen at this point. Gaetz & Co. will keep this process hostage because they can. That’s it, that’s all. So what happens next?
You don’t need me to tell you the GOP doesn’t have a real alternative to Kev. No Paul Ryans In Da House this time around. By contrast, Dem are euphoric over unanimously casting their votes for Hakeem. It’s time for parliamentary-style politics, baby.
The Dem have 212 votes. Six skinny votes short. There are surely six GOP Reps who wish all this wasn’t happening. Twenty from swing districts able to perform the delicate dance avoiding election denial. Forty GOP Reps who want something positive they’ve done to take back to their districts.
The message to the 50%-or-so of GOP Reps too cowardly to stand up while Orange Guy ruled over them: You are free. The Freedom Caucus has freed you. They will never, ever, Do The Right Thing. You will primaried by a MAGAt anyways, and may not be around next term if your Party Fellows are unsuccessful with their next insurrection. What do you have to lose?
Jeffries & the Dem leadership will let them stand proudly, maybe a committee chair or two. What do your voters want?, Hakeem will ask them. Infrastructure? Let’s do it. Better schools? We’ll come up with something. Are there 10 GOP Rep in districts with voters demanding reproductive rights? Dems leaders will appear to keep the Progressives relatively subdued in return for 15-35 GOP Reps who want to govern. Depending on the work at hand, the 20-to-30 could grow to 50 or more.
For real. Ripping off the tagline from Chicago comedy legend Judy Tenuta- it could happen.