MAGA Watch

Having failed to crash U.S economy, extremists take aim at GOP.

Note: This site can also be accessed by entering FeathersOfHope.net in your browser window.

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For new readers, here are links to a few previous posts that will bring you up to date on what the Feathers of Hope network has been doing :

Wait, Exactly How Will We Do This? — (January 28)

Replacing McCarthy - A Progress Report — (February 16)

Moderate Republicans? Really? — (March 2)

Spread The Word, Write or Call Today — (April 6)

Escape From MAGA World — (May 3)

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Feathers of Hope is a network of ordinary citizens committed to advocating for the removal and replacement of Kevin McCarthy as Speaker of the House, thereby diminishing the power and influence of MAGA extremists in the chamber.

We have been urging moderate Republicans and Democrats in the House of Representatives to form a temporary bipartisan majority voting bloc for the purpose of passing a motion to “vacate the chair” and elect a new Republican Speaker who owes nothing to the minority MAGA group.

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For almost five months, about a dozen of the most radical right-wing fringe Republicans recklessly drove the agenda in the House of Representatives.

Intoxicated by their influence over Speaker Kevin McCarthy, MAGA extremists pushed aside senior colleagues in a headlong rush to destroy all progress the country has achieved since the 2020 election. And they loudly demanded “accountability” from every perceived enemy they could imagine.

But being intoxicated, MAGA eventually smashed full-speed into a wall. They were left completely behind when a bipartisan majority in both houses of Congress passed the Fiscal Responsibility Act, which raised the debt limit until 2025 and establishes spending levels for the coming fiscal year. During negotiations that produced the bill, Mr. McCarthy abruptly abandoned all pretense of supporting MAGA and the Freedom Caucus

Desperate to avoid the legacy of being responsible for a U.S. debt default, he reached an agreement with President Biden that was widely considered to be a sweeping win for Democrats, and not incidentally for our country as well. Almost everything the MAGA minority wanted was left out.

Common wisdom up to this time was that Kevin McCarthy is MAGA’s puppet.

It was thought that should he step out-of-line he’d immediately be removed from the Speakership by a “motion to vacate the chair”. But that hasn’t happened. Despite a lot of sound and fury, so far none of the MAGA members have dared to introduce that motion. There’s good reason why.

The threat of removal was always less real than it appeared. Removing the Speaker would require 213 votes. But mainstream moderate Republicans, all of whom stood with Kevin McCarthy through 15 ballots in January, were unlikely to turn against him. This is especially true now, when they just voted to pass what the extremist minority is rejecting.

As MAGA’s weakness has finally been exposed, their power is diminished. But rather than accepting defeat gracefully and proceeding with an aknowledgement of the limits of their influence as a minority faction, the extremists resorted once more to extortion. They refused to support a routine rules vote, thereby blocking Republican bills from coming to the floor for several days. This amounts to holding the floor hostage until their demands are met.

The tactic brought them a temporary victory, but further antagonized already irritated mainstream moderate conservatives who are losing patience with MAGA antics. Rep. Mike Lawler (R-NY) called out the MAGA group:

“You have a conference of 222 people, and they would be well advised to remember that they are ‘one of’ (222). . . . The (Republican) majority was delivered by people in swing districts, people who represent areas Joe Biden won.”

Representative Lawler is a first-term Representative whose seat is sure to be targeted by Democrats as a potential pick-up in 2024. His warning was echoed by other moderates, including highly-respected Rep. Don Bacon (R-NB) whose seat is considered relatively safe. Mr. Bacon warned MAGA:

“The small group acts like we’re in a parliament in which the House majority can get whatevr it wants. In reality, we’re in a bicameral with three branches of government and separation of powers. If we want to get something done it will involve working across the aisle. The small group of GOP individualists want a 100% and will end up with zero.”

It remains to be seen whether Kevin McCarthy can navigate this growing unrest within the Republican conference.

After passage of the Fiscal Responsibility Act, it seemed for a moment that his position as Speaker was assured. It appeared that having stood up to the MAGA radicals had increased his power in the House as a whole, while theirs was dramatically reduced.

But Mr. McCarthy has the unfortunate tendency of needing to appease whomever applies the most pressure at any given moment. This past week that was MAGA, stomping their feet and pouring sand in the gears again. In response, the Speaker again started making concessions — blissfully oblivious to the chasm that separates rational conservatives from irrational extremists.

It’s a chasm that can not be bridged. And at some point a definitive choice must be made. Stumbling from one crisis to another is not leadership. If Kevin McCarthy’s failure to provide leadership in the House continues, some coalition of Members will almost certainly emerge to remove and replace him, as we have long advocated.