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Less than a week after being ousted as House speaker, Republican Rep. Kevin McCarthy held a Capitol Hill press conference at which he seemed to present himself as a congressional leader. NBC News reported:
He held a news conference Monday to discuss the conflict, convening it first outside the speaker’s office before moving to another room in the Capitol. He held a phone call with the speaker of the Knesset, the Israeli legislative body. He offered a five-point plan to help Israel, offered criticism of the administration and called for further U.S. action.
While these steps were unexpected, they were not altogether mysterious: McCarthy appears quite interested in a possible comeback, and the California congressman’s press conference was an unsubtle way for the ousted speaker to effectively position himself as someone who still deserves the gavel.
Or put another way, McCarthy acted like a congressional leader in the hopes that enough of his GOP colleagues would conclude that he should be a congressional leader again.
This isn’t likely to work out — as we discussed on Monday, the arithmetic still doesn’t work in his favor — though there are reportedly a handful of House Republicans who are now saying they’ll only support McCarthy for speaker, and no one else.
But let’s not brush past the fact that McCarthy presented what he characterized as a five-point plan for U.S. policy toward Israel.
This was itself unusual. McCarthy has never expressed much of an interest in the details of governance. As former House Speaker Nancy Pelosi put it last year, “I have served under four presidents as speaker or leader. I served with many leaders on the Republican side. Unfortunately, that gentleman is the least substantive person. There is nothing of substance there.”
Are we to believe that the Californian, hoping to get his old job back, is now taking policymaking seriously?
Not exactly. McCarthy’s five-point plan is lacking in any real depth.
Based on what McCarthy told reporters, the ousted speaker’s agenda is as follows:
- U.S. forces should rescue American hostages being held by Hamas.
- The White House should demand the extradition of Hamas’ leader.
- The White House should bring back the Trump administration’s “maximum pressure” policy toward Iran.
- There should be a renewed focus on the U.S./Mexico border.
- There should be condemnations of antisemitism in the United States.
Some of the elements of this blueprint are obvious — no one’s against rescuing American hostages — and some are misguided. Donald Trump’s “maximum pressure” agenda, for example, plainly didn’t work. McCarthy’s interest in U.S. border security, meanwhile, obviously predates Hamas’ attack.
His eagerness to condemn antisemitism in the United States has merit, though given what the public has seen from some in the House Republican conference — including from members McCarthy ultimately praised and rewarded — it would appear the ousted speaker lacks some credibility on the subject.
Indeed, let’s also not forget that after Trump dined with Kanye West and Nick Fuentes, McCarthy defended the former president, insisting that Trump “came out four times and condemned” the notorious antisemite. In reality, Trump did no such thing.
All of which is to say, the problem with McCarthy’s plan is that it’s less of a plan and more a political ploy intended to give the appearance of having a plan.