Josh Hammer
Newsweek Opinion Editor And Host,
"The Josh Hammer Show"

Welcome back! I returned last week from a 2.5-week vacation to the Middle East—to Israel, the U.A.E., and Egypt. It was a really great and memorable trip, punctuated by some personal news: I'm now engaged! I popped the question on a (well-decorated) balcony in Jerusalem overlooking the Kotel (i.e., the Western Wall). That alone of course made the whole trip more than worthwhile, but my fiancé and I also thoroughly enjoyed exploring Israel's stunning Negev region, the thrills of Dubai and Abu Dhabi, and the pyramids of Egypt, among other highlights.

Last week, my column, which was written before the conclusion of the contested speaker's race, highlighted some of the lessons conservatives should draw from the epic fight for the U.S. House speakership, in which GOP establishment favorite Rep. Kevin McCarthy (R-CA) finally prevailed on the 15th ballot. The concessions that conservatives were able to extract from McCarthy amount to a huge victory, but there are three buckets of people who come away from this saga looking terrible: McCarthy himself and his closest establishment allies, former President Donald Trump, and the establishment-friendly conservative pundits who excoriated McCarthy's critics in often-scathing terms.

In this week's podcast, I was joined by Steve Cortes, a popular conservative commentator, occasional Newsweek Opinion contributor, and former advisor to President Trump. We discussed the rise of what Steve calls "patriotic populism"—what recent guest Ryan James Girdusky calls "national populism"—and how that differs from the more liberal conservatism of yesteryear, on issues ranging from political economy to foreign policy. You can listen on Apple, Spotify or here.

In terms of media appearances since I got back from the Middle East, I joined Addison Smith's show on One America News Network to discuss the House speaker fight, and I joined my old friend Jesse Kelly on The First to discuss the same topic. I also joined Bob Frantz's Cleveland-based radio show to discuss L'Affaire McCarthy, including an addendum on why Republican leadership hates its very own voter base. Finally, this morning, I joined "Mornings with Maria" on FOX Business to discuss the House GOP's impending investigations pertaining to Biden administration/Big Tech collusion.

Our highlighted right-leaning Newsweek op-eds this week: Lee Habeeb on a brief comeback of public prayer after Damar Hamlin's terrifying football injury, Avi Bell on why the new Israeli government's much-criticized judicial reform plan is just and proper, Dan Caldwell and Sumantra Maitra on the need for House Republicans to swiftly correct America's course on Ukraine, Jonathan Tobin on an uncharacteristically propitious backlash against Woke-ism at Penn State, and Drew White on what last week's epic House speaker fight revealed about the dearth of reliable conservative punditry.

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Kevin McCarthy Drama Underscores Impotence of Republican Elite

After Republicans clinched their narrower-than-expected new House majority in November's midterm elections, the only relevant questions for Congress-watchers seemed to pertain to what Rep. Kevin McCarthy's (R-CA) impending House speakership would look like.

To what extent, if any, would he return House rules to "regular order," whereby bills are drafted and marked up in decentralized committees, rather than unilaterally imposed by the speaker's office? To what extent would he stack committee chairmanships with like-minded allies, and to what extent would he be forced to offer some chairman gavels to skeptical conservatives? To what extent would he direct the new Republican majority to focus on passing substantive legislation, and to what extent would he focus on subpoenaing and investigating the Biden administration? Would the so-called "motion to vacate" the speaker's chair be restored to the prerogative of a single House member, as was the case for two centuries?

As of this writing, none of these questions can be answered, because McCarthy is not the speaker of the House. Nor is anyone else, for that matter. Eleven ballots in, there is no winner. The race for speaker of the House has not taken this many ballots since 1859—before the Civil War. A set of roughly 20 House conservatives, led by Reps. Andy Biggs (R-AZ), Chip Roy (R-TX), Matt Gaetz (R-FL), and Scott Perry (R-PA), has repeatedly defied McCarthy on ballot after ballot. The California Republican has yielded numerous concessions to the holdouts, but there is still no resolution. It is unclear how the stalemate will end.

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