Qevin McQarthy's Bad Faith

UPDATES - The Mendacity is Bottomless

Qevin McQarthy (R-Oklafornia) is the clearest demonstration extant that you never ever ever want to employ someone who will do *anything* to get to their goal. There is no bottom to the deceit the man is willing to practice, the shamelessness of his actions. He missed out on a run for House Speaker against Paul Ryan back when John Boehner finally had enough of the idiots on his side of the aisle, with opponents citing the fact that he’s just not very smart. In McQarthy’s case, intelligence is replaced by the lowest of cunning.

In all the years I have watched this idiot in action, going back to his days in the California Legislature, the only time I ever saw him act with any integrity was the few minutes it took him on January 6 to state accurately that the blame for incitement of the insurrection lay entirely at the feet of Donald Trump. There’s also the few minutes he spent screaming at Trump on the phone during the insurrection. Of course, just when one could hope that reality had finally broken through to him and that he’d discovered he did in fact possess a backbone, he wasted no time demonstrating that it was a backbone made of papier mache, when he scurried down to Mar A Lardo to get down on his knees and give Trump’s widdle mushroom (as Stormy Daniels described it) a public blowjob. Since then, he’s been toadying with the best of them, convinced that if he eats just ten more bowls of Trump’s shit, he’ll achieve his life’s dream and become Speaker of the House of Representatives.

And then, yesterday, he demonstrated that his “bottom” is truly bottomless, when he nominated three insurrectionists who voted against Joe Biden’s electoral victory after the insurrection - including Gym Jordan, the all-time-worst scumbag in the Republican side of the House (I say that in full recognition of how hard it is to award that title, given the competition among that collection of evil clucks for the “honor” of the designation) and the GOP’s leading professional saboteur - to do their best to sabotage the House Special Committee that is investigating the treason.

I wonder how Jordan will be both questioner and witness in this investigation. I really do wish there was video of Congresswoman Cheney slapping his hand away when he offered to “help you ladies” to safety during the assault on the capitol, telling him “You fucking did this!”.

The other two insurrectionists may not be as well known for truculence as Jordan is, but they’re right up there on Team Asswipe nonetheless. They are Representatives Jim Banks of Indiana and former deputy sheriff Troy Nehls of Texas; interestingly, in photos taken the day of the insurrection, Nehls can be seen helping Capitol Police barricade House chamber doors against supporters of Trump only hours before he voted against certifying Biden’s election - he was quoted saying “What’s taking place here right now is un-American. This is a sacred house.” He also reported a conversation he had with the insurrectionists: “I had my Texas mask on They said, ‘You’re from Texas and you should be with us on this.’ I said, ‘I’m all OK, and I’m all Texan, and I’m all about the Constitution and individual and personal freedom, but, to me, this is criminal what you are doing here today.’”

Kelly Armstrong of North Dakota contributed to the mess by voting against Trump’s second impeachment for incitement of the insurrection, but is otherwise what passes for “reasonable” among congressional Republicans. Rodney Davis is the one decent appointment. He is considered a moderate, and is ranking member of the House Administration Committee. He didn’t vote against Biden’s victory, didn’t vote against formation of a 1/6 committee, and has a reputation for fairness.

Banks, the “ranking member” (and he’s pretty damn rank) of this quintet, wasted no time demonstrating that he knows what his role on the committee is to be, when he issued this public statement accepting his appointment:

“If Democrats were serious about investigating political violence, this committee would be studying not only the January 6 riot at the Capitol, but also the hundreds of violent political riots last summer when many more innocent Americans and law-enforcement officers were attacked.... Make no mistake, Nancy Pelosi created this committee solely to malign conservatives...”

Of course, if the committee did take up Banks’ suggestion of investigating the George Floyd protests last summer, perhaps they could also investigate Trump’s “one regret” over things he didn’t do to destroy the country while in office. According to Philip Rucker and Carole Leonnig in their new book on Trump’s final year in office, Trump regrets his response to protests last summer in Minneapolis, Portland, Seattle, and other cities. “I think if I had it to do again, I would have brought in the military immediately.” It would be very interesting to have all that brought out in public. But I doubt Banks wants the result.

Banks is apparently a far worse “piece of work” than he appears so far. According to “Politico,” he is highly ambitious. When surprise was registered over the announcement by McQarthy that Banks was being appointed “ranking member” (i.e., the leader) of the Republicans on the committee, it was pointed out that the appointment is an audition, allowing Banks a chance to flex and prove his messaging chops before trying to move up the ladder next year. Banks hired Tucker Carlson’s son to work in his D.C. office, traveled to the border with Trump last month, and allegedly wrote the memo that Carlson pere and others at Fox have used to attack President Biden’s efforts on COVID-19. Banks also appeared with McQarthy at the Caucasian People Acting Crazy conference in Dallas.

The word is that Trump wanted the over-ambitious toady Elise Stefanik named to the committee. Perhaps she missed out because McQarthy is telling people he didn’t talk to Trump about the appointments. It is both remarkable and telling that someone like Banks, who is being groomed for higher GOP glory, has unabashedly declared that the insurrection should not be the primary focus of the committee’s investigation. This is similar to Stefanik being given the chairmanship of the Republican Conference as a result of her public role in elevating the very lies about Donald Trump’s 2020 loss that inspired January 6.

UPDATE #1: Further proof to check all sources before publication, and also that you cannot believe Qevin if he tells you it’s Tuesday. Turns out, he did indeed speak to Trump before announcing his appointments. having gone to Bedminster to get the final approval of the list. Thanks much Tim Miller at the Bulwark for pointing this out.

UPDATE #2: According to the news this morning, Speaker Pelosi will object to the seating of Jordan and Banks on the committee, which kills their participation. Nice try, Qevin - see if you can get it right the second time around and put Adam Kinzinger on; I may disagree with him on each and every one of his policy positions, but I have no doubts at all about his sincerity and his commitment to a democratic constitutional republic.

UPDATE #3: The full mendacity of McQarthy is now on view. He never wanted to name any Republicans to the committee, so they could portray it as “completely partisan,” but politically it wasn’t good to not cooperate from the beginning. So, instead, appoint the five, with three real stinkers, of which two are absolutely toxic. This was done, knowing that Pelosi would object to the two toxic traitors - Jordan and Banks. And now Qevin can hold a press conference bemoaning the “partisanship” of Pelosi and the nasty Democrats who wouldn’t allow Republicans to nominate their choices to the committe - thus the committee can be portrayed as “completely partisan,” while the poor Republicans are once again victims of the Dread Nancy. This is so obviously what is going on that even Capitol Hill reporters started talking about it within five minutes of McQarthy’s announcement that he was pulling all five GOP members from the committee.

UPDATE #4: Proof McQarthy had this move in mind all the time, here’s his statement. He refers to all three - Jordan, Banks, and Nehls (the reference to law enforcement): "This represents an egregious abuse of power and will irreparably damage this institution. Denying the voices of members who have served in the military and law enforcement, as well as leaders of standing committees, has made it undeniable that this panel has lost all legitimacy and credibility and shows the Speaker is more interested in playing politics than seeking the truth."'

Davis and Jordan’s nominations demonstrate that McQarthy continues to see his most important role being deflection of any public awareness away from Trump’s role in attempting to lead a coup against the government. The two are obviously supposed to create as much distraction in the coming hearings and sabotage if the investigation as possible. The funny thing is, had McQarthy gone along with the creation of the bipartisan independent commission, his work would be easier, since Republicans would have had an equal role in the committee’s operation and more importantly a veto on subpeonas. But then, that would require him to not be a dumbass from Bakersfield.

McQarthy and the rest of the insurrectionists in his party sitting in Congress cannot allow the January 6 insurrection to be understood for what it truly revealed: the ongoing presence of a broader movement, one aligned with Trump and a growing faction of the GOP that is anti- democratic to its core. It’s a movement that is metastasizing as total submission to Trump becomes the only way for an ambitious party member to advance.

McQarthy’s actions need to be seen as what they truly are: central actions to a broader campaign to cover up a plot to overturn our democratic constitutional republic. This is a coverup that is soaked and saturated in a level of venality, bad faith and contempt for the public interest that has no precedent in our history - not even the Civil War - and no place in what I hope will remain a functioning democracy.

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