How does the saying go? Play stupid games, win stupid prizes.
That is exactly what happened to House Democrats when they decided to vote for Rep. Matt Gaetz’s (R-FL) motion to remove former Rep. Kevin McCarthy as speaker of the House.
Democrats did not have to vote for or against McCarthy. No one was asking them to vote for McCarthy. All the Democrats had to do was not vote with Gaetz in support of his motion to remove McCarthy. If Democrats had simply not voted, Gaetz’s motion would have failed 210-8, McCarthy would still be speaker, and McCarthy would have passed Ukraine aid through the House.
But House Democrats took just too much joy from watching Republican dysfunction, so they joined forces with chaos, they got chaos, and now they are reaping the rewards of chaos.
Ukraine aid was one of the main reasons Gaetz cited for ousting McCarthy. Speaker Mike Johnson (R-LA) had always been far more skeptical of Ukraine aid than McCarthy was. To consolidate power, Johnson was then forced to link border security with Ukraine aid. That then became the Senate Republican position, and the Senate then wasted three months negotiating an immigration deal that was never going to pass.
Democrats and Republicans are just too far apart on the immigration topic. Democrats want to solve the border crisis by making it easier for migrants to enter the United States and then send bailout money to cities and states to help pay for the migrant influx. Republicans want to solve the border crisis by not letting more migrants in. These are diametrically opposed solutions.
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The Lankford bill sided with the Democratic solution, codifying President Joe Biden’s catch-and-release policies while bailing out Democratic cities and states. No one should be surprised that Republican senators rejected this approach.
Now, the Senate is finally moving on legislation that would fund Ukraine and Israel. This was always the only way forward, and the only reason it took four months to get here is Democrats thought it would be funny to vote with Gaetz.