One of Kevin McCarthy’s first acts as speaker of the House was to take a selfie with Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene, the far-right conspiracy theorist and election denier who has emerged as one of his staunchest allies. That image, which Greene immediately posted on social media, encapsulates the wager McCarthy has placed for the entire House Republican Conference — and indeed for the GOP overall.
To secure the speakership, McCarthy did what his two Republican predecessors in the job, Paul Ryan and John Boehner, would not: grant concessions to the House GOP’s most militant conservative faction that will vastly increase their visibility and leverage in shaping the party’s agenda.
With that decision, McCarthy is betting that the GOP can maintain broad enough electoral support to defend its House majority even while moving to center firebrand conservative representatives such as Greene, Jim Jordan and Scott Perry — all of whom the January 6 committee singled out for their roles in Donald Trump’s efforts to overturn the 2020 election. CONTINUED
Ronald Brownstein, CNN
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