53 Comments

McCarthy hasn't "changed." As Adam Schiff tells it, early on he sat next to McCarthy on a flight back to DC. They chatted. McCarthy then totally distorted Schiff's side of the conversation to the press. Confronted by Schiff, McCarthy said, “You know how it goes." From Schiff's book:

"I said, 'No, Kevin I don’t know how it goes. You just make shit up.' That is how he operates...he was really made for a time like this when, within his party, truth is for losers. You say what you need to say, you do what you need to do to take power and to keep it. Someone with that lack of devotion to the truth or any ethical compass simply cannot ever be allowed in my view to go near the speaker’s office."

There you have it.

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He was your friend, Steve...so how and why did this conversion to extremism happen? Had he changed...have you changed (the latter, obviously so .) Is there more insight into his motivations? I am still confounded by the breadth of this takeover. It’s like Hemingway’s description of bankruptcy: “gradually, then suddenly.”

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This hits the nail on the head. The MTG MAGA wing of the Republican Party is so out there and just crazy. They have tapped into the worst among us and are clearly Anerica's loudest voices not our brightest minds. I hope the Dem's can maintain control of Congress if not God help us all. GO VOTE LIKE YOUR LIFE DEPENDS ON IT BECAUSE IT DOES!

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Maybe when he was your friend he wasn't so weak. Today he is so weak the thought of him as Speaker of the House is nauseating. Being the weakling that he is, the true Speaker will of course be Trump, who will be telling him what to do. That's obvious. Pull our funding out of Europe's support of Ukraine will be a death blow to anyone trusting the US for generations. When Trump did that in the Syria struggle, our trust level fell significantly. Screwing around with the debt ceiling is financially a death blow world-wide, who would want that? What he should do is reverse the tax reductions Trump gave to the top 2% and rebuild our finances. That would be a superb start to reducing the debt. But he won't so on it goes. Sorry state of affairs. Let's donate when and how we can to defeat every Trump supporing candidate to finally rid ourselves of this cancer on the Republic.

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I am not an economist nor monetary or fiscal theory expert. I am just a kitchen table money guy. Seems to me that the war we and NATO are fighting with Russia thru our proxy army of Ukrainians is having an impact on the world economy . this impact on the world economic order is causing shortages and then increased prices. Aka inflation.

So now the whole “Honk if you support our troops crowd “ should be honking their brains out by dealing with increased prices and shortages like the “Greatest Generation” did during WWII. And wait, wait be thankful none of our kids are coming home in body bags.

We want it all: racial purity(oh boy), Ten Commandments replacing the Constitution, making the constitution into the Bible and then telling us the “truth” about “ constibible” (new word),

shower the wealthy with more cash ( what is the second billion for), building private armies, replacing our existing institutions without offering any worthwhile suggestions ( remember repeal and replace and the new plan will be biggly better... in two weeks) and so on

So inflation will prove to rule the day. We will find out if the price of gas will be the price of liberty. Yikes

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While the impact of Covid is still reverberating, combined with the effects of the war, one of the biggest drivers of inflation is corporate and shareholder greed. We didn’t start the conflict in Ukraine but we cannot allow the Russians to roll over its neighbors like Hitler did. Democracy isn’t free.

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Yes, it is interesting that OPEC raised price because they thought it was too low, big oil is making record profits, but consumers feel price is too high… makes you wonder

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Wow! So well said. We want it all and are unwilling to sacrifice for anything. An entitled woe is me citizenship that would embarrass the ‘Greatest Generation’!

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My god, is anyone listening????

Nothing has been the same since 11/8/16, a day that lives in infamy.

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Kevin McCarthy is a LIAR and a traitor to The United States of America. He has betrayed his oath of office and the American people. He poses a dire and immediate threat to Democracy. We must fight hard to save our country and to call out the COWARDS who seek to destroy it. Thank you, Steve.

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You are correct in your assumption of Kevin McCarthy, he is weak. This is why he alligns himself with Trump, in order to appear strong. He is the worse kind of politician because of his weakness, lack of moral courage and his desire to be speaker again. He will make a bargain with the devil himself if he thought it would achieve his ambitions. He knows perfectly well just talking about not raising the debt ceiling is bad for the country and economy. He is so blind by ambition and his deals with the Grifter and Chief, DJT. He will let Putin turn Ukraine into a parking lot by withholding needed support and ammunition for their military. Kevin never has the big picture in mind in his decisions because he is an insignificant small minded person who is afraid of his own shadow. He seeks Trump's and MTG's approval in order to feel powerful but in reality they hate him for all his weaknesses and will eventually destroy him. God help us and please vote.

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In the UN resolution one week ago, Russia was supported by Belarus, North Korea, Syria, and Nicaragua. Putin can now add Kevin McCarthy to that list.

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Hi. It ticks me off that Ukraine has been jacked around, first by Trumps “I need a favor” and now a threat from McCarthy to end the help from us.

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Since the first time I heard you speak, I trusted you. Blindly is the right word, because of what you said then and continue to say. What I want to do now is answer your questions, because your readers here seem to always miss to do so.

1. I do not want Kevin McCarthy to have the power to light a fire against our Constitutional Republic.

2. I do not want economic calamity, war and chaos. Fervently and with conviction.

3. By not honoring his oath to the Constitution, Kevin McCarthy is an enemy of American democracy by not upholding the oath he took to protect and defend it WITH CONVICTION following the events that took place on January 6, 2021. His presence in the Capitol that day, to certify along fellow members the votes in the most secure election in American history, was performative.

4. He sold out to Trump because he is not a public servant.

5. He was pathetic and weak at a moment of testing and crisis because his power is nominal, as is the power of every supporter of Trump to this day.

6. Kevin McCarthy did not fight for America when he had the power to do so and is not fighting for America as he still holds power because he is subservient to Donald Trump, to the hubris of power and to the highly compensatory temptation that has taken down great and less great and weak individuals who sell themselves out to the best bidder, individuals whose only task was and is to serve the country as elected and appointed officials, given the case. Kevin McCarthy is thus acting, instead, in the capacity of private citizens when tempted by powerful players that will do harm to America in ways unforeseen, unless its citizens are really paying close attention to what IS ACTUALLY HAPPENING as we face, if not live in body and soul, the erosion of the common good for all Americans.

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Kevin McCarthy wants to be the Speaker of the House more than anything else in life. He will very likely attain this goal, but the cost to the country will be incalculable. Between this election and the next general election in 2024, we will see the end of our democratic experiment. Congratulations, America, we are about to become a much more heavily-armed version of Hungary.

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So long as Americans are so short-sighted that they care more about gas prices than the future of democracy and global political stability, MAGA will win. The irony, of course, is that an unstable US government on the brink of fascism destabilizes the economy more than anything, and voting in more crazy GQP people will surely plunge the global economy (the US included) into a tailspin. Why is this not the focus of every political story instead of some poll or another? Because the media is broken at best, complicit at worst.

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I hope you are trying to help Marcus Flowers defeat MTG

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(Because he is testing his power to bring America down to her knees. He speaks to see how far he can do so and get away with it. It is the failure of the ANTI Fox and extreme right conglomerate of misinformers and disinformers who have lost the power of speech and the ability to differentiate between autocracy and democracy, failing crassly to respond to such claims. There should be outrage across the nation against such anti-democratic turn during the REAL life and death confrontation by a nation we support fighting for all that is right and just to defend democracy in its one and only sense, the defeat of autocracy raging with death and destruction as its only motivator to possess and submit the world to its will. There should be consensus in the country that such attempts to play with its citizens' fears is repudiated. And the most damage done is coming from the silent mass of political figures who have played and are continuing to play with fate as they hand all their agency to false leaders aligned with anti-democratic forces.)

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Mark Meadows sat patiently by during the insurrection to see if Trump could pull it off. He did nothing. It wasn't until Pat Cipollone came into the office & convinced him to go with him to see Trump & convince him to call off the attack. Just like Meadows, McCarthy is sitting in the wings to see if Trump can pull it off (2022-Nov) and the GOP can take control. If they win, Trump owes Kevin. That's what Kevin is banking on.

The GOP is not about the constitution or the law, it's about power. Power at the expense of every American.

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"Power at the expense of every American." Well said and so sadly true. Thanks.

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