'Heartbeat of authoritarianism': Scholars see McCarthy ouster as a warning sign for US democracy

06 October 2023

With Rep. Kevin McCarthy (R-California) having been ousted as House speaker, House Judiciary Committee Chairman Jim Jordan (R-Ohio) and Rep. Steve Scalise (R-Louisiana) are competing for the position. Former President Donald Trump is endorsing far-right Jordan, and former Rep. Adam Kinzinger (R-Illinois) — a scathing Trump critic who served on the January 6 Select Committee — predicted on CNN that supporting Jordan for speaker will become the "new litmus test" for House Republicans.

The motion to oust McCarthy was initiated by the ultra-MAGA Rep. Matt Gaetz (R-Florida), whose critics are slamming him as a provocateur who thrives on chaos.

In an article published by Politico on October 6, scholars and political science experts weigh in on the broader implications of McCarthy being ousted — and what they mean for the GOP and U.S. democracy in general.

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The University of Denver's Seth Masket told Politico, "For Gaetz and others in the populist wing, there had to be payback against McCarthy…. not for any specific policy, of course, but rather, for working with Democrats to keep the federal government from shutting down. Gaetz had to make it clear that, even if it was impossible for McCarthy to do his job by working within his party, he wasn't allowed to work outside it. And now, he doesn't have that job anymore."

Yale University's Joanne Freeman views McCarthy's fate as a symptom of "extremism" and "dysfunction" within the GOP.

Freeman said of Republicans, "Norms and rules be damned, they feel entitled to maintaining power. This isn't democracy. It's the heartbeat of authoritarianism."

The American Enterprise Institute's Norman Ornstein describes the ousting of McCarthy as symptomatic of the "nihilistic, radical politics" that have made the GOP a "radical cult."

The Niskanen Center's Geoffrey Kabaservice believes McCarthy was imperiled by the very extremism he encouraged and described the GOP as "a party that prefers temper tantrums to governing, fantasies about stolen elections to the hard work of appealing to swing voters."

Kabaservice told Politico, "It would rather destroy the federal bureaucracy than use it to implement conservative policies. Increasingly, it poses a threat to national stability and world order. Kevin McCarthy did little to resist the feral direction of his party and much to indulge it."

Read Politico's full report at this link.

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