My Thoughts on the Ousting of Kevin McCarthy

Opinion

Ken Timmerman’s Threat Watch www.kentimmerman.com, 10-6-23

I agree with much of the criticism leveled by Rep. Matt Goetz against Congress. Even with a GOP majority, Congress showed it was incapable of real spending cuts, incapable of securing the border, incapable of seriously challenging Joe Biden’s corrupt administration.

Where I disagree with Matt is that he leveled those criticisms against one man, Kevin McCarthy.

I’m no McCarthy groupie. But over the past two years or so, I have watched him grow as a leader, sharpen his game, and authentically champion real conservative goals.

McCarthy fulfilled 90% of the promises he made to Goetz and the holdouts who caused 15 votes for Speaker in January. And specifically on Ukraine, his 45-day Continuing Resolution CUT OUT all funding to Ukraine, a key Goetz demand (and one I agree with).

It takes time to pass 12 individual spending bills – something no Congress has done since 1997. One ironic twist to the week-long recess Congress is now taking to debate a new Speaker is that it could cause the next speaker to invoke yet another CR in order to pass those bills.

My friend Daniel Greenfield at Frontpagemag says that conservatives are angry. “They’ve been funding a revolution, and getting a CR.”

Sure. But politics is also the art of the possible. No Republican Congress can pass a budget with significant cuts that the Democrat-led Senate would pass and Biden would sign.

That said, look how quick Biden was to release the money for the border wall appropriated by Congress in 2019 once it became clear he would get no more money for Ukraine without funding border security. (That would have happened if McCarthy had remained as Speaker, by the way).

The bomb-thrower in me applauds Matt Goetz. Those things needed to be said. Republicans needed to focus on what makes us different from the Uniparty.

But the realist in me acknowledges that little will actually change if the GOP can’t pass the spending bills. That should be the immediate and unwavering focus of the next Speaker.

Republicans need to learn how to negotiate – not to cave. Democrats are very good at setting the bar outrageously high, and then “settling” for half. Republicans tend to demand what they will settle for, and then get just a portion of it.

Our GOP members need to learn from the master of the Art of the Deal!

I discuss this as well as Russian nuclear weapons, the latest flare-up in tensions between Serbia and Kosovo, and the Pope’s illiterate comments about climate change on this week’s Prophecy Today Weekend.

As always, you can tune in live at 1 PM on Saturday on 104.9 FM or 550 AM in the Jacksonville area, or by downloading the Jacksonville Way Radio app.

Yours in freedom,

Ken

PS: Stay tuned for pre-release news on my upcoming book, Raising Olives in Provence: A Guide for Body and Soul. It’s about love, faith, marriage, and friendship—with a sprinkling of thyme and some olive oil, please! (And don’t forget the rosé…!)