Don't Let The Door Hit You On The Way Out

Kevin McCarthy is out and ... good riddance. Also, a heavenly musical interlude.

I’m Michael A. Cohen, and this is Truth and Consequences: A no-holds-barred look at the absurdities, hypocrisies, and surreality. If you were sent this email or are a free subscriber and would like to become a paid subscriber, you can sign up here.

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Good Riddance

Well, Kevin McCarthy is out as Speaker, and allow me to turn things over to the Bulwark’s Charlie Sykes for the best political obituary on the now former GOP leader’s historically short speakership.

For the first time in the nation’s history, a sitting speaker of the House has been ousted; and Kevin McCarthy now has the historic distinction of having the shortest tenure with the gavel since the guy who died of tuberculosis in 1876.

McCarthy, who so desperately wanted that title and the portrait — and who made one surrender after another to get them — will now be remembered merely as an asterisk, if even that. 

Indeed, Kevin would be a tragic figure, if he were not so utterly and clownishly pathetic. His tenure was marked by serial humiliations, each paving the way to his thoroughly undignified downfall. “Each one hopes that if he feeds the crocodile enough, the crocodile will eat him last,” Winston Churchill once quipped. “All of them hope that the storm will pass before their turn comes to be devoured.”

On Tuesday, it was Kevin’s turn. And he made a particularly noisome morsel.

I’m generally a pretty empathetic guy, but even I cannot conjure up an iota of sympathy for McCarthy’s political humiliation.

The guy who flew down to Mar-a-Lago weeks after January 6 to prostrate himself before Donald Trump; the guy who tried to block a congressional investigation of that awful day; the guy who handed January 6 surveillance footage over to Tucker Carlson; the guy who empowered the worst, most extreme and dangerous members of his party; the guy who carried water for Donald Trump, who lied constantly, reneged on deals, and opened a ridiculous impeachment inquiry into Joe Biden got EXACTLY WHAT HE DESERVED.

McCarthy’s demise was inevitable. Indeed, his fall from grace is as old as time. He was a man with deep reservoirs of personal ambition and no discernible moral core, and he decided to lie down with dogs. No one should be surprised that he got fleas. The richest irony of this whole situation is that McCarthy sold his soul to Donald Trump and the MAGA crazies, and when push came to shove, and his speakership was on the line, Trump didn’t lift a finger to try and save him. At some point, one would think that Republicans would realize that Donald Trump wouldn’t piss on them if they were on fire. And yet …

I expect that McCarthy will soon resign his seat and return to Bakersfield, California, a forgotten political afterthought.

The Absurd Blame Game

Jonathan Ernst/Reuters

Since McCarthy’s ouster, House Republicans (with knowing nods from some members of the punditocracy) have pushed the argument that Democrats are to blame for McCarthy’s fall. They sided with the execrable Matt Gaetz. They should have been the “adults in the room” and voted with Republicans to keep McCarthy in office … that is Grade A horseshit. Democrats had zero responsibility to protect McCarthy and an equal amount of political incentive. Even up until the last 48 hours of his speakership, McCarthy was still brazenly lying about House Democrats and seeking to publicly blame them for the narrowly averted government shutdown.

Kudos to Mitt Romney for accurately laying out the facts:

I think Speaker McCarthy made a decision to get as close as he possibly could to the radical wing of his party and by doing that he made it virtually impossible for the Democrats to come to his aid.

That anyone makes or buys the arguments that Democrats should have fallen on the grenade for McCarthy is emblematic of how journalists subconsciously assess the two parties. If a similar situation unfolded among Democrats and Republican votes were needed to save Nancy Pelosi as Speaker, would anyone suggest that GOP members should have her back? Of course not, because no one expects mature, selfless behavior from Republicans. It’s baked in that Republicans are cynical, unethical, and devoid of principles. But because Democrats respect and adhere to political norms, there is an expectation they will do the right thing — even when it goes against their political interests.

The irony is that Democrats DID the right thing. They helped Gaetz and his merry band of political nihilists depose a political leader who had forsaken his constitutional oath and put American democracy at risk. Democrats don’t deserve opprobrium. They deserve a medal.

What Comes Next?

Honestly, your guess is as good as mine. No one I’ve talked to has any sense of how the next few weeks play out (and let’s not forget that while a shutdown was avoided this past weekend, Democrats and Republicans only agreed to keep the government running for a few weeks. So we could go through this whole mess again in November.)

Rep. Jim Jordan and Rep. Steve Scalise have already thrown their hats in the ring. The former allegedly covered up sexual abuse in the wrestling program at Ohio State University. The latter has previously described himself as “David Duke without the baggage.” So these two are a real couple of winners.

My guess is that the eventual Speaker is some backbencher no one has ever heard of — a little-known compromise candidate with a streak of masochism. And it could take weeks for this to get resolved, with plenty of chaos along the way. But I’m not sure it matters. The House GOP caucus is an unmanageable mess, and, more likely than not, we’re just counting down the days until Democrats take back the House next November.

What’s Going On?

• Peter Whener has a withering take on McCarthy that is worth a read.

• The mess in the House may delay much-needed military assistance for Ukraine.

• Life expectancy in the United States continues to decrease …

• … and much of it has to do with politics.

Musical Interlude

If you’ve never seen “Pat Garrett And Billy the Kid,” … you should. It’s a fantastic movie (make sure you see Sam Peckinpah’s later director’s cut and not the original version that he disavowed). James Coburn delivers a performance that is simply astonishing, but this scene — with Slim Pickens and Katy Jurado — is so beautifully acted, and Dylan’s version of “Knockin’ on Heaven’s Door” is the perfect accompaniment. It might be the best use of original music in a film that I’ve ever seen.

I make absolutely no apologies for loving this oft-ridiculed version. This is a rock band at the peak of its powers.

Here are three more great versions. (The Warren Zevon version was recorded right before his untimely death).