Which Party Is It?
Republicans are eagerly looking to this fall’s general election…it’s a federal midterm, and with only a couple of modern era exceptions, the party in the White House loses seats in both the U.S. House and Senate. Given the deadlock in the Senate and the barest of majorities in the House for Democrats, the GOP can be forgiven if some are measuring for new draperies in the leadership offices.
But not so fast. Which Republican Party will show up in the event there is a Congressional power shift…and what happens if both do?
Politico considered the topic yesterday, in light of the Republican National Committee censoring the two Republican representatives serving on Speaker Pelosi’s January 6 committee.
Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell took a strong view, bluntly stating, “That’s not the job of the RNC.” McConnell has publicly drawn a line on January 6, calling it a violent insurrection attempt and refusing to speak to now-former President Trump. McConnell’s wife resigned from the Cabinet after the January 6 incident.
House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy has a very different view as he hopes to become speaker. He believes any dustup regarding Trump will be short-lived, including a belief that Americans who don’t live in the D.C. Beltway really don’t care about anything related to January 6. He’s telling his members to focus on election issues and ignore questions about the RNC drama.
So let’s assume the GOP retakes both chambers. McConnell and McCarthy may have names that are close to one another in the alphabet, but they have very different views about the man who could well become the 2024 presidential nominee. How do they work together in that climate? Trump has been clear about his lack of confidence in McConnell, to say the very least. And early on last year, at the first sign of a rift between Trump and McCarthy, the California congressman flew to meet with the former president in Florida to stop that story before it got too far along.
Democrats ran for president and Congress in 2020 as the “anti-Trump” party. They may have won the election, but they’ve clearly suffered regarding governing. Before Republicans get too far ahead of their skis…they’d be well advised to figure out how to get along after the election, or else whatever victory they’ll celebrate will be similarly short-lived.
