Two Polar Opposites Must Lead a Fractious GOP

“Newly elected House Speaker Kevin McCarthy (R-CA) and Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-KY) have a nearly 25-year age gap and political styles that are described by their colleagues as polar opposites, with one a glad-handing leader and the other a more sphinx-like strategist,” the Washington Post reports.

“But the ability of the two Republican leaders — who associates say have a good, professional but not close relationship — to work together now takes on new significance as several high-stakes fiscal showdowns loom in Congress.”

“McCarthy, who eked out a victory in the speaker’s race earlier this month, faces the challenge of leading a vanishingly small House majority whose far-right members have threatened to default on the nation’s debt obligations in order to enact steep federal spending cuts. McConnell, in the minority in the Democratic-controlled Senate, leads a caucus that is generally more averse to such brinkmanship, raising the possibility that Republicans on opposite ends of the Capitol will find themselves at odds in the coming months.”