New Congress, New Consequences
Notes from America with Kai Wright
WNYC Studios
4.4 • 1.5K Ratings
🗓️ 12 January 2023
⏱️ 33 minutes
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Summary
From near-fisticuffs on the House floor to Kevin McCarthy’s concessions to win the gavel, the chaotic start for the 118th Congress has finally settled – with consequences for us all.
In his bid for speakership, newly elected House speaker Kevin McCarthy made a host of promises to some of the Republican Party’s most extremist members – including Qanon conspiracists and election deniers. The future of the new Congress and what led to its formation serve as a lesson for where we stand in national politics. Theodore Johnson, senior advisor for the public policy think tank New America and writer for The Bulwark, joins host Kai Wright to unpack it all in this special episode for podcast listeners.
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Transcript
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| 0:00.0 | It's notes from America, I'm Kai Wright, and since we do need to talk about the new |
| 0:19.6 | Congress that has finally, after much drama settled into place, I come to you with a special |
| 0:25.9 | drop for our podcast listeners who I know are very invested in this conversation. To recap for |
| 0:32.4 | those who have somehow missed it. The new House Speaker, Kevin McCarthy, has, of course, made a |
| 0:38.4 | great many promises to a small cadre of the most extremist members of the Republican Party, |
| 0:44.4 | including QAnon conspiracist and election deniers and all the rest of it. Despite this, |
| 0:49.4 | if you expect McCarthy will actually be able to lead the caucus in the end, but nonetheless, |
| 0:54.0 | this is the reality we are in now. All of this, of course, has consequences for all of us, |
| 1:00.0 | and I also suspect it's a useful object lesson in where we stand in our national politics and why. |
| 1:07.2 | So to think this through, I am joined by Theodore Johnson. He is a senior advisor at New |
| 1:12.9 | America, a retired commander in the US Navy and a writer for the Bullwork, which, as you know, |
| 1:18.3 | is a place we often turn when trying to understand what's going on in the Republican Party, |
| 1:22.7 | and really just amongst a lot of folks who no longer feel like they have a home place in American |
| 1:27.9 | politics today. Theodore, thanks for joining us. Thanks for having me. It's good to be here. |
| 1:34.0 | So you wrote a couple of columns before this McCarthy drama that I actually want to talk about |
| 1:39.4 | specifically, but let's do start with your thoughts on the Speaker Fight itself. As I said, |
| 1:47.5 | you know, McCarthy has made a huge number of concessions to the most extreme members of the |
| 1:52.2 | Republican caucus. Just what do you make of the deal? And what do you think the consequences of it |
| 1:57.2 | will be? Yeah, it was something to watch. You know, I think it was pretty much a foregone |
| 2:01.9 | conclusion that McCarthy was going to be the next speaker. And I think some folks anticipated |
| 2:06.4 | there being a little static with that. I don't think anyone expected it to go 15 rounds before |
| 2:12.5 | he was successful. So that was a spectacle to watch. It was just American history in the making. |
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