MAGA 'chaos caucus' has failed to achieve a single goal — except one: columnist

27 March 2024

After recapturing the House of Representatives in the 2022 midterms, Republicans promised to ram through a slew of far-right bills and hold numerous public hearings aimed at exposing the Biden administration. But so far, they've failed at all of that, according to a recent column.

In a Wednesday op-ed for MSNBC, columnist Hayes Brown wrote that the far-right's capture of one chamber of Congress has been a dud regarding their promises to slash government budgets, impeach President Joe Biden and change the narrative surrounding the prosecutions of January 6 defendants. And despite having a clear majority after the fall of 2022, that majority has dwindled considerably — after a wave of early exits and retirement announcements, Republicans can now afford only one defection from their conference in order to pass legislation, assuming full attendance.

Brown argued that the current meeting of Congress has largely done nothing at all with Republicans in charge with the exception of one thing: Firing former House Speaker Kevin McCarthy (R-California).

"[E]ven bagging that trophy hasn’t worked out great for the chaos caucus. Though he’s resigned from Congress, McCarthy is still feuding with the members who gave him the boot," Brown wrote. "Meanwhile, his successor as speaker, Mike Johnson, R-La., has opted to largely follow McCarthy in taking the path of least resistance to preventing government shutdowns. On multiple occasions, he has relied on mostly Democratic votes to give bills the two-thirds majority they need to dodge the Rules Committee."

"Conservatives are deeply unhappy, and Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene, R-Ga., already has filed a motion to vacate the chair, the same procedure used to oust McCarthy," he added.

As Brown noted, McCarthy's fate was sealed after he worked with Democrats in September to broker a partisan deal that would have prevented the US from defaulting on its debts and jeopardizing the global economy. The following month, Rep. Matt Gaetz (R-Florida) filed a motion to vacate McCarthy that seven other Republicans and all Democrats supported as a unified bloc. That led to McCarthy being the first speaker to be removed from his position via a motion from his own party.

Greene's motion is less likely to succeed, as several Democrats have made it clear that they'll side with Johnson in the event Greene brings her motion to vacate to the floor. This came about after Johnson once again passed a critical government funding bill with more Democratic support than from his own party. That $1.2 trillion spending bill — $800 billion of which was for the military — didn't include any of the draconian spending cuts that members of the far-right House Freedom Caucus were clamoring for. And with Greene's motion unlikely to succeed, Johnson may end up proving to the extreme wing of his party that they need him more than he needs them.

Still, Brown cautioned Democrats against celebrating too early, warning that Republicans are only hardening further in the wake of their own failure to govern with a majority.

"It’s all schadenfreude-worthy, but unfortunately, this no time for a victory lap by Democrats. Wisdom would dictate a group of politicians taking this many L’s would be chastened; in an older, simpler time, they might even feel demoralized enough to feel shame about their tactics," he wrote. "But it’s far more likely that they’ll apply the same comforting balm that the right-wing has used for decades now: convincing themselves that the current leadership just isn’t pure and conservative enough."

Click here to read Brown's column in full.

From Your Site Articles