Why Would House Speaker Kevin McCarthy Promise to Expunge Trump's Impeachments?

This is so self-destructive and dumb.

There's some hot gossip in Washington D.C. this morning regarding the strained relationship between House Speaker Kevin McCarthy and former president Donald Trump.

The business mogul was reportedly furious at McCarthy for a public stumble in which the Speaker questioned whether or not Trump is the strongest 2024 candidate. "Can he win that election," McCarthy asked. "Yeah, he can. The question is, is he the strongest to win the election? I don’t know that answer. But can somebody, anybody beat Biden? Yeah, anybody can beat Biden. Can Biden beat other people? Yes, Biden can beat ‘em. It’s on any given day."

That did not sit well with the former president and his inner circle, and the blowback forced McCarthy to walk it back a bit.

Trump world flipped out. Top aides to the former president and allies who know both men quickly traded messages asking, in short: What the fuck?

Some called McCarthy a “moron.” Others looked to Trump campaign hand Brian Jack, who also advises the speaker and has been a critical bridge between both men, to play mediator as Trump hit the trail in New Hampshire.

McCarthy immediately pivoted into clean-up mode. He called Trump to apologize, according to the New York Times. He offered Breitbart reporter Matt Boyle an exclusive interview, during which he walked the comments back and accused the media of taking them out of context.

In Thursday morning's "Playbook," POLITICO reported that McCarthy has attempted to mollify Trump, who is demanding McCarthy endorse him immediately.

“He needs to endorse me — today!” Trump fumed to his staff on his way to a campaign event in New Hampshire, according to people familiar with what happened. McCarthy, after all, had indicated to Trump’s team that he would do so eventually. Why not clean up the mess and announce his support now?

But the House GOP leader — who has felt compelled to stay neutral during the primary so as to not box in his own members — wasn’t ready to do that. To calm Trump, McCarthy made him a promise, according to a source close to Trump and familiar with the conversation: The House would vote to expunge the two impeachments against the former president. And — as McCarthy would communicate through aides later that same day — they would do so before August recess.

That vow — made reflexively to save his own skin — may have bought McCarthy some time, staving off a public war with the man who almost single-handedly rehabilitated his entire career and ensured he won the gavel in January. But it has also put McCarthy in a bind — and Trump world plans to hold him to his promise.

It seems like kind of a rash promise to make, given the current political climate among Republican voters. Only half of the base is committed to Trump right now, and with the Republican majority in the House razor-thin, is putting Republicans in moderate districts a risk he wants to take?

This is a situation where the compulsion to attain power and the fear of losing it are your biggest enemies. Both of Trump's impeachment votes were based on politics and emotion rather than dedication to justice, and most voters know it. However, it's over and done with. It is in the past, and re-litigating it now is detrimental to what should be the GOP's No. 1 goal: Moving beyond the past. If 2022 taught us anything, it's that campaigns and candidates devoted to re-litigating 2020 chased voters away, and in swing states, the closer the ties to Trump (real or perceived), the worse those candidates did.

McCarthy made a promise that re-opens all of those old wounds in the run-up to the 2024 primary and general election. You know exactly how this plays out.

Candidate: Vote for me, because I want America to recover and become a better place.

Reporter: Nevermind that BS, do you agree that Trump was improperly impeached? Do you think January 6 was a dangerous attack on our democracy? Do you think the 2020 election was stolen?

Candidate: ...Vote for me?

In the morning report from POLITICO, it appears that several moderate House Republicans are mad at McCarthy, and rightfully so. If McCarthy goes through with this, those Republicans are being put into a position that weakens them no matter what. Either they vote to expunge the impeachments and moderate voters take their vote elsewhere or they vote against it and their own base calls for their head. There's no way to win here, making this potential play by McCarthy extremely self-destructive.

Whatever prompted this alleged promise is bad political instinct, and he should know better. But fear is a powerful emotion, and if the fear of Trump's wrath and the end of his power as Republican leader are causing him to make decisions like this, then his critics were right that he wasn't the right man for the job in the first place.