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The Art of the Deal: Local Author on GOP Speaker Selection Situation

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By Ken Timmerman, 1-5-23


Ken Timmerman’s
Threat Watchwww.kentimmerman.com
Thursday evening


Politics is all about deal-making. It’s not about taking your football and going home in a pout if you don’t get your way. And it’s not about using highly-charged insults.

No, I am not talking about “low energy Jeb” or “little Marco” or “Rocket man” – those horrible horrible names Donald Trump called his political or foreign opponents.

I’m talking about calling the anti-McCarthy 20 “insurrectionists,” as Brian Kilmeade did on Fox & Friends on this morning. (His co-hosts insisting on calling them “saboteurs” instead is not much better.)

I’m talking about Rep. John Rutherford, my previous congressman in Florida, calling them “political terrorists” on Jacksonville’s WOKV.

A terrorist is someone who uses violence to achieve political ends. By definition, all terrorists are “political.” John, you should know better. None of your colleagues are terrorists. Not even AOC.

On the other side, Matt Gaetz said on Monday he couldn’t vote for McCarthy because “if you want to drain the swamp, you cannot put the biggest alligator in charge.”

I’m sure Kevin McCarthy has thick skin and doesn’t take it personally. Still, this is not how you get to a deal.

Just before I began this note to you I was happy to see that McCarthy and his team are trying to hammer out an agreement, and that some of his twenty opponents are interested in finding common ground.

On Wednesday night, McCarthy made a key concession, namely, that he would no longer use his enormous leadership PAC to primary GOP incumbents, or to take side in primaries in open seats.

Rep. Gaetz said the hold-outs want a vote on a bill to balance the budget in seven years (Wow, that’s radical!!), a vote on the Texas GOP delegation’s plan to secure the southern border, and a vote on term limits (more on that, below).

Is McCarthy worried that such bills will split the GOP caucus? If they pass, they won’t get through the Senate; if they don’t pass, it will simply remind Americans that the GOP has a hard time marching in lock-step with leadership. 

Unlike some, I do not think we have been witnessing a “disgraceful spectacle,” or that Republicans have “embarrassed themselves.” On that score, I agree with Texas Rep. Chip Roy, who says this is precisely what Democracy looks like.

It’s time for each side to put their cards on the table. McCarthy has started to do so. Will his opponents call?

Two things are pretty clear:

– they will not succeed in derailing McCarthy’s bid to become Speaker, barring an earthquake or Zombie invasion. (Twenty more defectors would rank as an “earthquake.”)

– if they continue to reject all offers, they will bring discredit upon themselves and prove their own detractors right when they say they have no goal other than humiliating Kevin McCarthy.

All of us want to see Jim Jordan launch the Biden investigations. It’s time to get to work.

As to term limits. I fully understand the frustration many conservatives feel when they watch dinosaurs masquerading as the People’s servants. But careful what you wish for. Inexperienced Congressmen will be run roughshod by unelected staff and Deep State bureaucrats. We need people in elected office who know how government works AND who understand that We the People are their boss.

Yours in freedom,
Ken

PS: Don’t forget to listen in on Saturday to my weekly take on geopolitical events around the world on Prophecy Today. 
Ken Timmerman’s 12th book of non-fiction, AND THE REST IS HISTORY: Tales of Hostages, Arms Dealers, Dirty Tricks, and Spies, is now available from PostHill Press. 

AND THE REST IS HISTORY can be ordered directly from Amazon by clicking here or by viewing my author’s page, here. 

– Republican nominee for Congress, Maryland District 8 (2012)
– National Security and Foreign Policy Advisory Board, Trump for President 2016
– President & CEO, Foundation for Democracy in Iran, www.iran.org
– Nobel Peace Prize nominee, 2006
Cell: 301-675-7922
Follow me on Twitter @kentimmerman
#TheElectionHeist
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Website: kentimmerman.com
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The views and opinions expressed in this commentary are those of the author and do not necessarily reflect the official position of Citizens Journal Florida.

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