Hostile symbiosis in the U.S. Congress

KIM HYOUNG-GU
The author is the Washington bureau chief of the JoongAng Ilbo.

“Sit your ass down.” This rude remark was made at a closed-door meeting of the Republican Party on Oct. 19. Former House Speaker Kevin McCarthy yelled at Rep. Matt Gaetz when Gaetz started to talk. Gaetz had brought McCarthy down from the position.

Three weeks have passed since McCarthy was ousted as House speaker on Oct. 3, for the first time ever in the 234-year history of the U.S. Congress. The disruptions and confusion so far have been like a black comedy. The removal of the speaker, led by a member of his own party, was only the prelude.

House Majority Leader Steve Scalise, who came in first in the race for a new speaker, dropped out after failing to persuade the opponents. That foreshadowed the dark cloud gathering. Jim Jordan, who came after Scalise in the earlier race, ran, but he lost even more votes and eventually quit the race in the three rounds of voting.

Certainly, there was self-reflection in the Republican Party. Some lamented and called Gaetz, who started this chaos, “a charlatan.” Party elder and former House speaker Newt Gingrich even insisted on kicking Gaetz out. But Gaetz seems to have a solid backing. The New York Times reported that Steve Bannon, a political strategist for former President Donald Trump, was the behind-the-scenes mastermind. Bannon invited Gaetz to his own podcast the day before the removal of McCarthy and demanded more far-right legislation from him, urging listeners to donate political funds. The structure of organizing the hardline supporters and exerting influence on lawmakers with political funds is still working.

The Democratic Party is also responsible for the mess. The Democrats who want to resolve the crisis early suggested that the power of the interim House speaker Patrick McHenry should be expanded to process the urgent government budgets and security aid packages for Ukraine and Israel. But most of the Democrats are “strategic onlookers.” They calculate that the internal discord of the Republican Party will lead to prolonged paralysis of the House, and if the federal government shuts down, criticism on GOP will deepen.

In the end, the hostile symbiosis of extremism in both the Democratic and Republican parties — who see chaos and division as “more profitable” than resolution — is brooding. The problem is the apparent damage on the people. The federal government shutdown leads to various inconveniences. The people who are waiting for U.S. government aid in Ukraine and Israel will be more anxious than otherwise.