Democrats happy to let GOP offer a comparison

By Francis Wilkinson / Bloomberg Opinion

While former House Speaker Nancy Pelosi was in California for the funeral of her friend Sen. Dianne Feinstein, Rep. Patrick McHenry, R-N.C., the Kevin McCarthy ally who is the interim caretaker of the leaderless House of Representatives, kicked Pelosi out of her Capitol hideaway office.

Rep. Steny Hoyer, D-Md., former Democratic majority leaders, subsequently received a similar eviction notice. It was a remarkably petty and spiteful act in the wake of McCarthy’s unprecedented downfall. But it showed that House Republicans had Pelosi’s successful reign very much in mind as McCarthy’s failure came crashing down on their heads.

Pelosi, after all, had run the House like a Swiss watch, passing hugely consequential legislation such as the Inflation Reduction Act, which may not have much to do with inflation but is already having a huge impact on the transition away from carbon-based energy. And Pelosi did it with a majority no larger than McCarthy’s.

Pelosi is one of the most skilled politicians ever to be speaker. But her successor, Rep. Hakeem Jeffries of New York, is already having similar success. Democrats voted in lockstep with Jeffries on Tuesday to oust McCarthy, whom they mostly described as dishonest and untrustworthy, echoing the complaints of the eight Republicans who voted to remove McCarthy from power with no plan for what comes next.

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