Nobody has been more critical of Republican leadership than I. I recently posted articles entitled "The Great Divide" and "McLeadership."
"The Great Divide" is about the gulf between the D.C. Republicans and the rest of us. And then came the Speaker's race. The last thing I wanted was anything even hinting of a deal to anoint Kevin McCarthy.
Was that the case, for example, with respect to Paul Ryan, John Boehner, and now McCarthy, (or, as I like to call him, Kevin 1.0).
It never ended well. But not this time. Fifteen rounds of voting. I was in political heaven. An outsider like Byron Donalds jumped in. Insiders like Steve Scalise and Jim Jordan jumped out.
And, I can now reveal, after the eighth unsuccessful vote, I tried to inject myself into this great political theater. I called my congressman, Brian Mast, on his cell, and told his voicemail to "get in the race." No response. But no regrets.
I think Brian would be great for the job. And I thought that if an outsider was going to get the job, Brian was as good as any, and better than most. Ultimately it ended at fifteen votes. Kevin McCarthy prevailed.
But this is no longer the Kevin McCarthy that we all know and are cynical about. Kevin 2.0 prevailed over Kevin 1.0. What does that mean?
It means that the House conservatives got their deal. Kevin can be speaker so long as he speaks for all of us, not just the DC insiders. It was almost like Clark Kent going into the phone booth and emerging as Superman.
So, what's so super about Kevin 2.0? For starters, he kicked Adam Schiff off the House Judiciary Committee. Three months ago, how many of us saw that coming? Not me and not you.
Then he took out Ilhan Omar. Omar likely bullied her way on to the Foreign Affairs Committee by bringing the full force of the "Squad" down on Nancy Pelosi. (Yes, that Nancy Pelosi). Kevin 2.0 removed her without breaking a sweat or caring about how many times she called him a racist. Go, Kevin!
And Kevin was just warming up. He got the Biden administration to give a briefing on the growing document scandal. He asked the House Oversight Committee to conduct hearings on the mishandling of classified materials.
He brought a "Socialism is evil" resolution to the House floor and got 86 Democrats to vote against it. That's the kind of politics Republicans need. He promised hearings on China's purchase of 383,000 acres of American farmland, conveniently located next to our military bases.
He committed to balloon hearings followed by Tik Tok hearings. Are these spy vehicles? Let's find out.
Kevin 2.0 is not only holding hearings about the Mexican border. He's holding hearings on the Mexican border, a place President Joe Biden and Vice President Kamala Harris can't seem to locate.
Kevin 2.0 is gearing up for the debt ceiling battle. Kevin 2.0 says no increase without spending cuts, including the 78,000 IRS agents. Biden says all spending, no cuts. Something has to give.
COVID hearings are coming. Was it natural or leaked from a lab? Kevin wants to know. Jordan and his House Judiciary Committee will hold hearings on Big Tech's alleged censoring of conservatives and Big Tech's alleged suppression of information, including Hunter Biden's laptop.
Future hearings will include the Afghanistan pullout, the FBI raid on Mar-a-Lago, inflation, and the Jan. 6th events, complete with the release of all 14,000 feet of tape; to Tucker Carlson, no less. As you can tell, I'm ready and excited. We're building our platform for '24.
What does it all mean? It's not just one person, Kevin McCarthy. No, those fifteen rounds of votes were the Republican Party's coming of age.
The Biden administration has been horrible and life threatening for the America we used to know and still love. The Republicans in Washington have finally stood up. We're fighting back.
The old "go along, get along" House GOP is no more. We, the rank and file, demanded real leadership. It is now "push, pull or get out of the way." Kevin McCarthy says he can be that man. It's early but I'm optimistic — finally.
Sid Dinerstein is a former chairman of the Palm Beach County Republican Party. Read More — Here.
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