Remaking America: The McCarthy Tapes, The GOP, And The 2022 Midterms

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4.3 • 4.5K Ratings

🗓️ 5 May 2022

⏱️ 32 minutes

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Summary

The Midterm elections are six months away and the most recent polling suggests Republicans have an early edge. If they take the House, Rep. Kevin McCarthy is likely to become the majority leader.

He garnered attention in the past two weeks when The New York Times released audio of private phone calls and meetings he had with other GOP leaders. They were recorded in the aftermath of the Capitol riot and they tell a very different story than what he said publicly.

In the leaked tapes, McCarthy is critical of Donald Trump's role in the insurrection and other members of his caucus. But do Republican voters care?

We listen to the sound with one of the reporters who broke the story before heading to McCarthy's district to get a response from his community.

This conversation is part of our Remaking America collaboration with six public radio stations around the country, including KVPR, NPR for Central California. Remaking America is funded in part by the Corporation for Public Broadcasting.

Want to support 1A? Give to your local public radio station and subscribe to this podcast. Have questions? Find us on Twitter @1A.

Transcript

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0:00.0	Alright, I know this is not fun, I know this is not great, I know this is very tough,
0:13.6	but what I want to do especially through here is I don't want to rush things, I want
0:19.0	everybody to have all the information needed.
0:23.4	I've had it with this guy.
0:25.2	What he did is unacceptable.
0:29.0	Everybody can defend that and nobody should defend it.
0:32.3	In the days after the January 6th riot at the Capitol, Republican House leader Kevin
0:37.0	McCarthy wanted to hold former president Donald Trump accountable.
0:41.0	The clip we just heard was from a phone call between minority leader McCarthy and House
0:44.8	Republicans.
0:46.2	The call happened four days after Trump's supporters stormed the U.S. Capitol in an attempt
0:51.0	to overturn the 2020 election results.
0:53.7	The audio was obtained and released by the New York Times.
0:57.2	Now that push for accountability didn't last long since then McCarthy is refused to cooperate
1:02.7	with the House Committee investigating January 6th and he called the New York Times reporting
1:07.3	on this quote, totally false and wrong.
1:10.7	So how are Republicans thinking about accountability for such a blatant attack on our democratic elections
1:16.3	and how much do voters even care?
1:18.7	This conversation is part of our Remaking America project and it we explore Americans
1:23.2	trust in our democracy and the institutions critical to its survival.
1:27.7	I'm Jen White.
1:28.7	You're listening to the 1A podcast where we get to the heart of the story.
	...

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