Republican catches self after saying trust in GOP 'proof' Americans 'don't pay attention'
A Republican lawmaker corrected himself after telling the New York Times that the fact his part earned the trust and support of voters this year is “proof that the American people don’t pay attention to the details of our politics.”
Anni Karni, Congressional reporter at the Times, wrote in an analysis Wednesday evening that Republicans have for nearly two years "barely been able to overcome their own intraparty feuding to keep the government functioning."
Even so, they kept control of the House — even if it's a "wafer-thin" majority — giving President-elect Donald Trump a coveted trifecta to pass his agenda.
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Karni noted that the GOP's success in retaining the House suggests they "paid little political price for the chaos and dysfunction they presided over, a period when Congress struggled to carry out even the basics of governing." That included a prolonged and bitter fight over the speakership, nearly defaulting on the national debt and even a "mutiny" on the House floor.
Brendan Buck, a top adviser to two Republican speakers, told the Times that in Congress, “it’s riskier to do big things than to do nothing at all.”
Karni appeared to agree.
".... doing the bare minimum seems to have worked out for the House G.O.P.," she wrote, noting that 72 percent of voters had an unfavorable view of the chamber last year.
Even so, it didn't cost Republicans, whose elections appeared to be more closely tied to the top of the ticket, where Trump made gains with nearly all demographic groups nationwide.
But it was Rep. Patrick McHenry (R-NC) who made an eyebrow-raising comment — that even he immediately corrected. He said House Republicans’ conduct didn't earn voters’ trust or support — and the fact that they won it anyway, he said, is “proof that the American people don’t pay attention to the details of our politics.”
McHenry then clarified: “It’s probably less about paying attention and more about not caring.”