Pitchfork Populism

The #Freedom20 storm the Establishment Castle

This week has been interesting, to say the least.

For those of you who’ve been too busy living your lives to pay attention to the circus in the House chambers, or who are reading this in years to come, let me summarize:

Kevin McCarthy, Mr. @GOPLeader himself, still isn’t Speaker of the House as of this posting. He’s already moved into the Speaker’s office but he keep failing to actually be elected to the position. Not just once, not just twice, but eleven times (before Friday). What started as nineteen members of the Freedom Caucus voting against McCarthy became twenty, prompting #Freedom20 to be used on social media to describe them. The number has fluctuated a bit—Matt Gaetz of Florida had WAY too much fun voting for Donald Trump on Thursday—but after three days, still no Speaker.

Meh. In 1855 it took 133 votes to get a Speaker. Of course, a few years later the Late Unpleasantness kicked off, so make of that what you will.

The Democrats have been laughing and taking all the cheap shots they can, obviously. They’re feeling a bit left out, since nobody much cares what they have to say at the moment. The only Democrats who’ve managed to get any attention this week are John Fetterman and Cori Bush (D-MO).

Fetterman, the new junior Senator from Pennsylvania, looked lost during in his swearing-in ceremony in a way that was truly sad. He still has significant deficits after his stroke last May, as the entire internet has now seen. Yes, he is a great inspiration to all who have suffered from strokes and their families, but is he really capable of performing the duties of his office?

The Fetterman video ought to be enough to raise questions about expanding the 25th Amendment to apply to the Senate, if not the entire Congress. Don’t hold hold your breath. The Dems won’t go there because they’re already working hard to cover for the doddering dementoid at 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue, and far too many Senators of both parties are decades past their ‘use by’ dates.

Cori Bush, on the other hand, wasn’t sad at all when she lashed out at Byron Donalds (R-FL) when some of the Freedom 20 put him forward as Speaker. Bush tweeted “He is a prop. Despite being Black, he supports a policy agenda intent on upholding and perpetuating white supremacy.”

So, is ‘prop’ the new ‘Uncle Tom’? It must be, if Ms. Bush is using it as a slur against Black White Supremacist Byron Donalds.

Cue St. Greta: “How dare he!”

To his credit, Mr. Donalds has dealt with Bush’s attacks calmly, and has come out all the better for it

That Byron Donalds would make a better Speaker than either Kevin McCarthy or Cori Bush goes without saying, and his star is now rising. It’ll be fun to see what he does going forward.

Meanwhile, the Republican Establishment and their media mouthpieces on Fox and elsewhere have been promising calamities of biblical proportions if McCarthy’s opposition didn’t stop acting out.

Apparently, it’s been so long since they saw anyone taking a principled stand they didn’t know what it was, much less understand it.

Madeleine Dean (D-PA) told MSNBC’s Nicolle Wallace on Thursday that Donald Trump’s 2015 campaign announcement was the beginning of the end for the GOP, and I’m inclined to agree with her. Just, not in the way she meant it. She’s a good little Dem, and she knows she’ll never go wrong if she just blames Trump every time somebody sticks a microphone in her face. This week, she had her ‘broke clock moment’.

This week may well be the beginning of the end of the GOP—the silk-stocking, bow tie-wearing, country club establishment GOP of the Bushes, Romneys and McCains, the GOP of McConnell and McCarthy. As I wrote here on Wednesday, both of the McC’s took FTX funds for their PACs, and used those PACs to defeat pro-Trump America First candidates—who would have been good candidates for the Freedom Caucus—this past November. Had McCarthy not done that, he might have a little more good will built up with the Freedom 20. Now, they know he’s not their friend, and they’ve been trying to change the House rules to constrain him since last July.

For months, the Freedom Caucus has been dragging concession after concession out of McCarthy, and the latest rumor as of Thursday night (when I started writing this) is there’s a written agreement between McCarthy and the Freedom Caucus they’ll be reviewing for a possible unveiling Friday. We’ll have to wait and see, but I think it’s likely. This might possibly go on until early next week, but the point’s been made: McCarthy’s only chance to be Speaker is to give the Freedom Caucus what they want. That what they want (for the most part) is to make the Speaker follow a more pro-America First agenda than the Establishment is comfortable with has become glaringly obvious these last three days.

Perhaps the most interesting and amusing (or irritating) aspect of this past week has been just how many “conservatives” have been screeching at the Freedom 20 to just sit down, shut up, “take the win” and vote for McCarthy “for the good of the party”.

“Take the win”??? By voting for the man who played a large part in defeating their natural allies and making the Red Wave fizzle out? “For the good of the party”???

Which party? You mean the D.C. Uniparty? The one that’s basically ignored all those “terrorists” (Dan Crenshaw, just to name one) and “insurgents” (Brian Kilmeade) who are standing on their principles? The one where the Dems make demands and the Republicans cave and call it a “moral victory”?

It’s almost like Sean Hannity, Mark Levine, Jeanine Pirro and a host of others have been channeling Hillary Clinton and her “basket of deplorable” comments. It hasn’t gone unnoticed.

What none of these Establishment shills realize is that the members of the Freedom 20 are more in touch with the mood of ordinary Americans than they are. Outside of the Beltway and the Elite enclaves, people are angry, frustrated and afraid. They’ve been screwed over, dismissed and demeaned by their so-called leaders for years, and millions of them have just about had enough of ‘business as usual’ in Washington.

Metaphorically, at least (for now), they’re ready to take up pitchforks and torches and storm the castle. Watching the Freedom 20 thwart the anointing of Speaker McCarthy time after time, that’s what they really saw:

Pitchfork Populism at its finest.

And Kevin McCarthy didn’t seem to have a clue. Earlier this week, after the first failed votes, McCarthy told reporters that a long fight didn’t bother him. He then talked about how long he spoke on the floor of the House against the $1.7 trillion omnibus bill, as an example of why he deserves to be Speaker.

Whoop de do, Kev—what you did, didn’t do squat. That monstrosity still passed. You just admitted your own impotence. Just that one bill, with what you and Mitch did in November, ought to get you run out of town, not put in any sort of leadership position.

It’s that kind of attitude that we’re fed up with, and apparently the Freedom 20 feel the same way.

The Freedom Caucus, especially the Freedom 20, are beating McCarthy at his own game. If there were 240 Republicans in the House, he’d probably have an easier time getting the 218 votes he needs to be Speaker.

Or maybe not. It’s also possible that Jim Jordan would be Speaker and McCarthy’s office would be two broom closets and the last men’s room stall on the left. That’s probably what McCarthy was afraid of—and it might still happen.

At any rate, the Freedom 20 have already won, because for the first time in forever somebody with an R after their name is fighting the Establishment and WINNING. Not just on some little thing—they’ve completely shut down the House, and this the entire Congress. They’re holding the line and seem determined to wring every last concession they want out of McCarthy—and they’ll get them, too! For years, Kevin McCarthy’s entire focus has been on becoming Speaker, and he can’t, won’t give that up. That’s why, even when he’s elected—as is highly likely now—he’ll still have to keep the Freedom Caucus happy to hold onto that gavel. He knows it, they know it, the Establishment knows it, and now MAGA Patriots and America First Americans all over the country know it.

Pitchfork Populism FTW!

McCarthy lost because he’s too far gone into ‘how things are done’ in Congress to realize that wasn’t the game being played. He’s been wheeling and dealing and schmoozing for months; offering a little here, a little there and expecting everyone to give in and go along ‘for the good of the party’. He’s been playing the Game of Thrones, D.C. Establishment edition, not realizing the Freedom 19 (then 20) were gearing up for something else entirely.

Those crucial Freedom Caucus members have found the magic word: NO. All they’ve done is refuse to play McCarthy’s game. His offers not to their liking? NO vote. Threats and name-calling? NO vote. Not going to let us keep our promises to our constituents? NO vote. Give up their principles, and possibly the nation’s future, for the good of a party that hasn’t been true to its alleged principles in decades? NO vote.

The Freedom 20 have already won eleven battles. They’re about to win the Speaker War. This won’t be the last one they’ll have to fight, but the changes they’ve insisted on give them more and better weapons for the next two years. If they use them properly the people will benefit and the Establishment can go pound sand.

Most important of all, the Freedom Caucus has given us a victory over the D.C. status quo. They’ve shown millions of Americans that the Establishment can be beaten back. All it takes are a few principled men and women standing firm, refusing to cross certain lines, and saying NO until their adversaries learn they mean it. They’ve led by example and given us hope that, just perhaps, the Republic may be salvageable.

It can’t have been easy to do what they did, and there will be payback(s) coming. But, now millions of Americans know who we can trust in the House to have our backs.

And as for the ones that have given themselves away as sock puppets of the Establishment? The Freedom 20 gave us that, too.

It’s likely we’ll have a Speaker later today. The sausages have been made, the deals cut. For now, the pitchforks can stay metaphorical and be laid down. Only time will tell just what will change, and if it will be enough to correct fix this mess.

Let’s hope so, lest the real pitchforks come out.

Coming soon: why so many America First stalwarts supported McCarthy, and reasons why Trump endorsed him for Speaker.

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