The Republican Party has entered a nightmare, then the real showdown is yet to come

Republicans who obstruct the election of the Speaker of the House of Representatives today will be able to assert their power again in the future.

Americans who turned on the television in time for the umpteenth vote on the Speakership of the House of Representatives on Wednesday fell for the first time in the middle of a press conference by President Joe Biden, standing in front of a bridge.

Biden proudly explained how the vital connection across the Ohio River between the states of Ohio and Kentucky, used by 180,000 cars a day, will be improved. The existing two-story bridge, nearly 60 years old, will undergo a much-needed renovation and a second one will be built alongside. All thanks to an infrastructure bill passed last year on the initiative of the Democrats, but with the support of some Republicans.

Next to Biden stood, equally proud, Mitch McConnell, Republican senator from Kentucky and leader of the Senate. The message was clear: the political parties in the United States can dream of having carte blanche to lead the country, but in the American political reality, they especially need each other.

Nightmare

An hour later, the Republican Party, or at least its faction in the House of Representatives, was in for another nightmare. The narrow House majority achieved in November gave a group of twenty Republicans a crowbar to turn on party leader Kevin McCarthy and block his election as House Speaker.

As the House voted again and again by roll call, McCarthy made constant concessions that would weaken his position as Speaker, if elected. But an unchanged result of a total of 11 votes showed until Thursday evening (US time) that the twenty party members did not think it was enough. On Friday, this group shrank somewhat, but lost a twelfth and a thirteenth ballot, after which the meeting was adjourned to 10 p.m., two a.m. Dutch time, at the request of one of its supporters. Apparently, McCarthy and the rest of the party leadership harbor hopes that, in the meantime, the remaining hard core of six party members can be won over.

Once Republicans wake up from the nightmare — whether with McCarthy as political leader in the House or with a compromise candidate, like second-in-command Steve Scalise — the day-to-day reality will prove just as horrifying. If the 20 delegates are seemingly so ready to look like the mud of their fellow party members at the start of their majority tenure, how fanatical will they be to block any cooperation with the Democrats?

Global economic crisis

It will be even more exciting when the US national debt hits the statutory debt ceiling this year. This cap must then be raised by Congress or the US government will no longer be able to borrow money to do its day-to-day work and pay interest and principal on the national debt. This would herald a global economic crisis.

It’s easy for populist Republicans to present raising that debt ceiling as a license to throw money at the government. Granted, the twenty sleepers will only want to raise the cap if the Biden administration is willing to make huge cuts.

Under President Barack Obama, Republicans have twice blocked raising the debt ceiling. In 2011, they obtained concessions. in 2013, Obama refused, to which the Republicans resigned themselves.

The big question is what will satisfy the twenty ultra-conservatives at the next opportunity. A request to raise the debt ceiling is a great opportunity for them to assert the power wrested from McCarthy. But it’s also an opportunity for the Republican Party to take power back from the 20-somethings and frankly admit that working with the Democrats is ultimately what’s best for the country.

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