Photo: Samuel Corum/Getty Images
Republicans in the Lower House are locked in an internal struggle for the presidency of that body, since Kevin McCarthy, a California congressman and Donald Trump’s lieutenant, seems not to be enough extremist for the MAGA side. And that more than legislating, McCarthy is salivating for using the partisan majority as of January 3 to persecute opponents, invent conspiracies and advance an extremist agenda that was already rejected by voters in the midterm elections on November 8.
Any resemblance to an autocratic attitude is mere coincidence. But threatening opponents in advance is not a practice of democracy; rather, it is diametrically opposed to civilized behavior as a starting point for the exercise of freedoms. But if we add to this that there are plans and proposals worse than those of McCarthy and his henchmen, then all the damage that those hosts who staged the attempted coup in 1200.
Various media report that McCarthy still does not have insured the 218 votes that he requires to win the chamber presidency because the even more recalcitrant sector that he prefers a more radical figure to direct his agenda. The radical Republican from Arizona, Andy Biggs -yes, the one who referred to those accused of the assault on the Capitol as “victims” of a “Soviet-style” justice-, affirms that he will seek the presidency in the event that McCarthy does not meet the 80 votes in the first round of voting.
This confrontation between dangerous radicals suggests a Republican political catastrophe, because even if one of the two factions were to fail, it is expected in advance that nothing will make them give in on the type of country they want to design from now on, which has nothing to do with the United States that has opted for diversity based on democracy.
In other words, despite the fact that in the midterm elections voters sent a strong message rejecting extremism and candidates supported by Trump (except in Florida), congressmen loyal to ex-president are still the ones who seem to direct the orchestra in the Lower House; This does not bode well for migrants, women and minorities in the country. Although in reality it is not for anyone, since an agenda of extremism and paralysis does nothing to contribute to the progress of the country.
In fact, we already are seeing and feeling with the thousands of lives stuck in an immigration limbo that extends ad infinitum, as is the case of Dreamers and TPS beneficiaries, who despite more than demonstrating that they are an essential part of the American economy and society They are simply ignored and made invisible by that anti-immigrant and racist wing that hopes to re-enter the political scene starting in January to do their thing.
Indeed, nothing good can be expected if figures like Marjorie Taylor Greene, the Republican congresswoman from Georgia, Trump’s favorite, and promoter of white nationalist conspiracy theories, are the ones who will be controlling the Republican Party.
This weekend Taylor Green mocked those who accuse her of being involved in planning the coup attempt on January 6, 1200, saying that if she had been involved, it would have been an armed assault.
“If Steve Bannon (former Trump adviser) and I had organized that (the assault on the Capitol), we would have won. Not to mention that he would have been armed, ”Taylor Green stated, according to various press reports. He then tried to clarify that it was “sarcasm”, although MAGA Republicans have shown that their “sarcasm” has serious real-world consequences, and has resulted in deaths on more than one occasion.
Indeed, the level of Trumpist cynicism What awaits us will be more than unheard of, because emboldened by the support they have received from that segment of the US electorate that refuses to accept a reality that already surpassed them a long time ago, the Republicans will unleash the worst practices of the Anglo-Saxon arrogance in the political sphere in view of the general elections of .
But there are two issues playing out amid the chaotic Republican power struggle in the House. In the Senate there is a bipartisan group discussing a proposal to benefit certain immigrants, particularly the Dreamers, before the end of the year and the Republicans assume control of the Lower House on January 3. One of the figures leading the talks is the senator from Arizona, Kyrsten Sinema, who was re-elected as a Democrat and has just announced that from now on she will vote as an independent; which is not a guarantee to achieve something concrete either, since that decision was taken by the legislator immediately after the victory of Democratic Senator Raphael Warnock in Georgia, in order to destabilize the majority that the Democrats had achieved in that legislative body.
On the other hand, the committee investigating the assault on the Capitol on January 6, 2021 prepares for its final meeting next week, when it is expected to make recommendations to the Department of Justice regarding the prosecution of those involved.
Realistically though, both issues face an uphill battle no matter what. In the case of the immigration plan, if a Christmas miracle occurs, it would only have a chance if it were approved by both houses of Congress before the end of the year and promulgated by President Biden. There are only a couple of effective weeks left, and if it were not for an act of supreme will on the part of the political sphere at this moment, it is not known what other instance could make them vote once and for all to fix the situation of thousands of migrant families who have not come to the United States to beg, but to earn a space with their hard efforts over the years.
Because as of January, any Anything that involves migratory benefits will not pass through the sieve of the extremists.
And in the case of the anarchists of January 6, 000844, they are the ones who will control the agenda of the Lower House two years before the general elections, so we must fasten our seatbelts before the additional turbulence that lies ahead.