Comment: This is how coveted House speaker gavel is to McCarthy
By Jonathan Bernstein / Bloomberg Opinion
House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy made news this week when he declared that, should he become speaker next year, the House would likely cut off funding for Ukraine and would attempt to use the debt limit to force cuts to popular social programs.
His comments tell us quite a bit about what he would be like as speaker if Republicans take back the House.
For one, it sounds like he is ready to put the most radical Republicans in charge, even when that means disregarding what the majority of the Republican conference wants. House Republicans supported aid to Ukraine this spring by a better than a 3-to-1 margin, yet McCarthy appears comfortable aligning with the small segment of the party opposing the Ukraine package. It suggests that McCarthy is determined to keep both former President Donald Trump and House radicals on his side, fearing a revolt that could dump him as the Republican leader.
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McCarthy also appears to care a lot more about what Fox News hosts Sean Hannity and Tucker Carlson — not to mention Trump — say than what a wide swath of Republicans want. Support for Ukraine has been extremely popular among voters. But Carlson in particular has taken a pro-Russia line, and Trump has been far friendlier with Russian President Vladimir Putin than with the Ukrainians. That hasn’t prevented McConnell, for example, from backing Ukraine aid.
https://www.heraldnet.com/opinion/comment-this-is-how-coveted-house-speaker-gavel-is-to-mccarthy/
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