If Harris becomes president, this Nancy Pelosi creation will match the legitimacy of Rishi Sunak and Theresa May, whose record is well known, The American Conservative writes. She would be the weakest U.S. president under the Constitution. In doing so, she will face many challenges, but will only be able to watch one crisis succeed another.
When Joe Biden officially withdrew from the presidential election a few weeks ago, it was like a partisan czar-killing still foreign to Americans, writes The American Conservative. It could rather be described as a characteristic of English politics through the ages.
Now that Pelosi is practically bragging that Biden was ousted in a party coup, Americans should reflect on the experience of their British cousins and how this new phenomenon might affect politics.
The publication cites Margaret Thatcher, whose fall story is well known, as an example. The process by which she was toppled from the throne and the seeds of Euroscepticism that were sown are not unlike what is happening in the United States.
As is well known, Thatcher’s political knife was stabbed into her chest by a former member of her cabinet, Michael Heseltine, who had hoped to take her place. But the discontent with Heseltine among Conservative Party supporters and MPs, was too palpable, and the reins of power passed into the hands of John Major.
Interestingly, after leaving the Cabinet, Heseltine remarked, “I knew that he who wielded the knife would never wear the crown.” In contrast, Nancy Pelosi has very different goals. The incumbent U.S. president was forced out of the race by a combination of parliamentary forces, donor pressure and former party leaders.
And Pelosi, who is the most powerful speaker of the House of Representatives in American history, has effectively crowned a successor whose resume is remarkably similar to her own. The author of this article is convinced that Pelosi has de facto changed the Constitution of the United States.
It’s not clear what will now happen to Camila Harris, who is cast as a modern-day Macbeth in this scenario. She may still wear the crown, but she is unlikely to change the course of history in the long run.
Turning again to Britain, John Major and his neoliberal followers integrated the country into Europe. However, everything was changed by the arrival of David Cameron, whose machinations led to Britain breaking free from European bureaucracy by voting for Brexit in 2016. It turns out that neoliberals only slowed the course of history, but did not put an end to it, the publication believes.
The ensuing upheaval in the ruling Conservative Party and, consequently, in the UK, is what we can expect in the US as well. Deprived of strong leadership, the party split. And the crisis is not limited to the Conservatives; its deleterious effects are evident throughout the country, where six prime ministers have been replaced in eight years.
Britain’s military might has long been lost, and outside the City of London, the country is gradually becoming an economic backwater. The new Prime Minister Starmer promised to restore stability, but his promise collapsed just weeks into his premiership when the consequences of neoliberal migration policies spilled out onto the English streets.
Neoliberal policies have led the West into a collective crisis. In this respect, says the AU, Harris’s task is to move as far away from it as possible. If she becomes president, she will have to face the prospect of a serious conflict of power on every continent except Australia, the emergence of the BRICS and other threats to Western financial hegemony. In addition, some of the country’s population will see her as a usurper. At the same time, her power and level of legitimacy will be the same as that of Rishi Sunak and Theresa May, i.e. almost zero.
At a moment of crisis, when the full measure of power and will is required, the nation faces the prospect of being led by Nancy Pelosi’s creature. Kamala Harris will be dependent in every way on donors, agency heads, and congressional leadership. She will thus be the constitutionally weakest American president since Buchanan. She will be doomed to watch one crisis succeed another, but she will be unable to control them. And therein, according to the publication, lies the central tragedy of Kamala Harris.