The Specter of January 6
It is increasingly obvious that the historic deadlock gripping the House Speaker election ordeal will only be broken in an unprecedented and unconventional manner, a radical one. Business as usual is not an option. And neither is Kevin McCarthy as House Speaker; his candidacy is dead. For that unexpected outcome, the 20 far right Republicans who resolutely obstructed his election can take a victory lap. Nor is any member of this MAGA caucus a viable candidate for that office. The same holds true for the entire Republican delegation. In fact, no current member of the 118th US Congress has any chance of being the next House Speaker, save one: Hakeem Jeffries, the nominee who placed first in every voting cycle. It would only take a mere six Republicans to join Democrats to secure that outcome, a powerful demonstration of bipartisan cooperation for the good of the country and one likely to be applauded by the majority of Americans. However, given the rigid groupthink and vicious polarity infesting the House, that bipartisan outcome is as likely as the advent of an ecumenical, instead of Catholic, Pope.
That leaves only one constitutional option to resolve this conundrum. Someone other than a current or even former House member will become Speaker, something that has never happened before in US history. But neither has the January 6 insurrection. And therein lies the grave danger. The MAGA forces responsible for the January 6 attempted putsch and its cheerleaders are unfortunately very much alive and well today. Trump has endorsed 17 of the 20 right-wing Republican rebels bringing down McCarthy, They were his shock troops sent to carry on the goals of the January 6 putsch attempt by other means. It takes no far stretch of the imagination to think that one of them, likely on January 6, will nominate Trump as Speaker of the House and that a minimum of 218 Republicans will fall in line to support that nefarious nomination. If so, Trump will only be two people removed from re-capturing his cherished prize of Presidency of the United States, this time without any facade or pretense of democracy or civility. As the German people learned too late nearly a century ago, never underestimate the power and evil of fascists. All that is necessary for this evil to triumph here, is for good Americans to do nothing.