Ambitious Kevin McCarthy, who came with difficulties to lead the Republican majority in the House of Representatives, gained dominance over his party’s legislators by directly opposing Joe Biden, whom he supported by raising the United States’ debt ceiling. In return demanded a cut in public expenditure. And avoid default.
From his position as the “chairman” or spokesman of that opposition in the lower house, a position that is actually a party leadership in the Legislature, he forced the Democratic President to negotiate, with a tactic that proved to be excellent paymaster’s. Jeopardizes reputation. of USA.
How far will he go in this fight that puts him at the center of the political game? Will he give in to avoid the debt crisis at the risk of frustrating Trump-friendly lawmakers, who may then try to oust him?
The motives of this 58-year-old man are mysterious. But for now, he appears to have unified Republican lawmakers from both houses of Congress who support his crusade.
McCarthy weakened after being elected Speaker of the House in January.
The head of Republicans in Congress since 2014, he clashed with about twenty pro-Trump legislators, who reprimanded him for being too timid, lacking support for the former president, and even lacking conviction. put.
After 15 votes to decide the position, he had to go to court for four days and make significant concessions.
– practicality –
It was not the first time that this practical man had taken a bitter drink.
From a classic Republican position based on protecting the market and individual success, Kevin McCarthy championed his party’s shift on immigration, crime and the rights of transgender people.
Faced with allegations of election fraud without evidence and an attack on the Capitol by Donald Trump, he was more ambivalent.
McCarthy, a supporter of the Republican millionaire in the 2015 primaries, initially backed his arguments against the 2020 election outcome.
But shaken by the attack on the Capitol on January 6, 2021, he declared that Trump had “responsibility” in that violent act.
A week later she was photographed smiling with the former president at his Florida residence in Mar-a-Lago.
– Contact man –
Born in 1965 in Bakersfield, a Republican stronghold in the heart of the Democratic state of California, McCarthy is the son of a Democratic firefighter and homemaker.
On his website, he highlights his folk origins and vows to “champion the American dream for those who work hard”. He tells how at 21 he opened a small business selling sandwiches and discovered bureaucratic hurdles.
He then resumed his university studies, becoming a parliamentary assistant and then a local legislator, until he entered Congress through the lower house in 2006.
His network of contacts made him known for his mastery of fundraising.
An auction held Tuesday to benefit the Republican Party confirmed her newfound popularity: Controversial lawmaker Marjorie Taylor Greene spent $100,000 on lip balm used by “Kevin…
