Recently I've written several blog entries about Kevin McCarthy's quest to become Speaker of the House. His election, which he won only after 15 highly contentious rounds of voting, isn't the only historic thing that happened this weekend in Congress. Democrats selected Hakeem Jeffries as House Minority Leader. Rep. Jeffries is the first Black person to serve as leader of any major party in Congress. But it's not just who Jeffries is that's newsworthy (besides, his party selected him for this role 6 weeks ago) it's what he did as his first act in the new Congress.
After McCarthy won the 15th round of voting, Jeffries handed him the ceremonial gavel of the Speaker of the House. Jeffries did that because he took it from former speaker Nancy Pelosi, when she stepped down as party leader. And before he handed over the gavel, Jeffries gave a speech. A stirring speech.
The most memorable part of Jeffries's speech employed a rhetorical technique of using the alphabet. Going from the letter A to Z, Jeffries enumerated the important American values the Democrat Party stands for.
That was Jeffries's first official act in the new session of Congress.
McCarthy's first official act? He thanked President Trump. Former President Trump, though he didn't say former. Upon this graceful transition of power he invoked Trump, the leader who personifies the opposite of graceful transition of power. Trump, who still claims that he rightfully won the 2020 election and should be installed into office 2 years later by the Supreme Court— or the military. Trump, who revved up an armed mob to attack the Capitol building on January 6, 2020. The evidence for his responsibility there was laid out in clear detail by a House committee investigation that finished just days ago. And, of course, McCarthy even stated that responsibility in the days immediately following Jan. 6— until he backtracked days later upon realizing that Trump would remain kingmaker in the Republican Party. So here we are just over 2 years later, with the new Speaker giving a bow to the utterly corrupt kingmaker.
What a sad state of affairs, rendered in such stark contrast by these two leaders' speeches.
After McCarthy won the 15th round of voting, Jeffries handed him the ceremonial gavel of the Speaker of the House. Jeffries did that because he took it from former speaker Nancy Pelosi, when she stepped down as party leader. And before he handed over the gavel, Jeffries gave a speech. A stirring speech.
The most memorable part of Jeffries's speech employed a rhetorical technique of using the alphabet. Going from the letter A to Z, Jeffries enumerated the important American values the Democrat Party stands for.
“House Democrats will always put American values over autocracy, benevolence over bigotry, the Constitution over the cult, democracy over demagogues … freedom over fascism, governing over gaslighting, hopefulness over hatred. … maturity over Mar-a-Lago ... quality of life issues over QAnon, reason over racism, substance over slander, triumph over tyranny, understanding over ugliness, voting rights over voter suppression ... zealous representation over zero-sum confrontation."
That was Jeffries's first official act in the new session of Congress.
McCarthy's first official act? He thanked President Trump. Former President Trump, though he didn't say former. Upon this graceful transition of power he invoked Trump, the leader who personifies the opposite of graceful transition of power. Trump, who still claims that he rightfully won the 2020 election and should be installed into office 2 years later by the Supreme Court— or the military. Trump, who revved up an armed mob to attack the Capitol building on January 6, 2020. The evidence for his responsibility there was laid out in clear detail by a House committee investigation that finished just days ago. And, of course, McCarthy even stated that responsibility in the days immediately following Jan. 6— until he backtracked days later upon realizing that Trump would remain kingmaker in the Republican Party. So here we are just over 2 years later, with the new Speaker giving a bow to the utterly corrupt kingmaker.
What a sad state of affairs, rendered in such stark contrast by these two leaders' speeches.