After claiming that the voters chose to take the country in a new direction (ignoring the Senate races entirely, I suppose), Kevin McCarthy made some interesting (some might say laughably unlikely or vague) promises in his first speech as Speaker of the House:
- Disagreements won’t be personal (good luck reining in the rest of your conference, buddy)
- Unleash American energy (meaning oil)
- Lower grocery, car, and housing prices (somehow)
- Stop the rising national debt (something the GOP has never been interested in when they’ve been in charge before, but sure)
- Cut regulations (not defined)
- Repeal funding for IRS agents (the funding isn’t for agents, but rich people should not pay taxes)
- Stop “woke indoctrination” in schools, somehow and maybe define it some day.
- Cut spending (just, all of it I guess)
- Investigate anything any Democrat ever did or touched
- Attack the US Government
- Subpoena everyone for everything
- Open the Capitol for “all Americans” to visit (not really sure how that’s gonna work)
- Hold a Congressional hearing on the southern border of the USA, because stunts are useful.
Honestly, after Hakeem Jefferies produced a speech with an alphabetical list of things the Democrats wanted to emphasize, including “quality of life over Qanon,” there’s no way McCarthy would be able to compete. But, still – he either cannot do these things, or they’ll be stupid or counterproductive. So, typical modern GOP.