Republicans’ extreme reaction to Biden’s big speech helps make his point

Some Republicans may feel aggrieved at Biden’s claim they want to sunset Social Security and Medicare, especially since McCarthy has said that’s not on the table in debt ceiling talks, although some prominent Republicans have suggested such a step. And McCarthy’s comment on Fox that it was one of the most partisan State of the Union addresses he’d ever heard was not totally wide of the mark.

But the president again positioned himself as the bulwark between more moderate Americans and the excess of what he has called “ultra MAGA” Republicans – a tactic he used especially successfully in the midterms.

This is why Biden’s strategy goaded McCarthy’s most radical followers into acting out on Tuesday night after saying Americans didn’t want to see fighting in Congress.

McCarthy, meanwhile, dodged efforts from reporters to get him to comment on the performance of Greene, with whom he has developed a strong political relationship. While he had hoped to avoid a public spectacle of extremism with millions watching on TV, his hopes of keeping his job long term rely on radicals like Greene and her wilder colleagues. This narrow grip on power thanks to a minuscule majority is one reason why McCarthy has also not repudiated Santos, who is expected to face a House ethics probe.

The sight of an apparently weak speaker unable to keep order in the chamber as Biden spoke – a scene that encapsulated the collapse of civility in the Trump-era of GOP politics – bodes ill for the future. Tuesday’s performance seeded new doubts that – even if McCarthy could somehow reach a deal with Biden on cutting spending in return for lifting the government’s borrowing limit – the California Republican would be able to sell anything but an absolutist position to his members on a clash that threatens to pitch the US economy into a crisis.

Greene told CNN’s Manu Raju on Wednesday that she wasn’t sorry for her poor manners during Biden’s speech, even though she provided Democrats with the exact image they most want to highlight. She said she was “pissed off” and “I don’t clap for liars.” Former Democratic House Speaker Nancy Pelosi told CNN on Tuesday night that Greene’s antics encapsulated a choice for Americans between “chaos” and “stability.”

Not every Republican is tolerating the party’s incivility. Utah Sen. Mitt Romney went where McCarthy has failed to go, telling Santos he had no place in the House. LaLota, meanwhile, in his interview with CNN’s Kaitlan Collins, stressed how the New York Republican had become a distraction from the party’s priorities.

“We want to talk about putting our economy back on the right track, securing our border, hold the administration accountable – these are the things that Republicans campaigned on, these are the things that Republicans want to govern on,” LaLota said.

Big Twitter hearing fails to advance the case

Given the Biden White House’s handling of the withdrawal from Afghanistan, the Covid-19 pandemic and the border crisis, there is plenty for House Republican chairmen to sink their teeth into. There is no reason why a genuine investigation into Biden’s finances – and those of his son, who is under federal investigation – should not be part of this oversight either.

But Wednesday’s House Oversight hearing showed how politicized the investigations have already become, and raised questions about the underlying question at issue: claims that the FBI forced Twitter to temporarily block users from sharing a New York Post story in 2020 regarding Hunter Biden’s laptop.