Kevin McCarthy seems like a nice man—but if Republicans win in November, should he be speaker of the House? I don’t think so. He doesn’t seem to understand the movement he is, at least ostensibly, leading.

Donald Trump was an easy choice in the ‘16’ and ‘20’ primaries. The reason is simple. He is the real deal. What you see is what you get. You may not like who he is, but you do know who he is and if he makes a campaign promise, you can be certain he’ll do his best to keep it. He is genuine.

The same can’t be said for Kevin McCarthy. He has the syrupy, sweet tone of a pure-bred politician. It smacks of duplicity and expediency. I don’t believe he could change that if he tried. He uses phrases like “we will allow you” and “we will give you” in much the same way that leftist swamp creatures talk. He does not comprehend that it is we the people who will allow him. He comes across as an elitist who has the whole, uniquely American, servant and boss political arrangement completely backward.

Image: Kevin McCarthy. YouTube screen grab.

That is a trait shared by the vast majority of politicians today, but we are at a precarious moment in our history that calls for something more than the “business as usual” approach to politics. That is why we are in this mess to begin with. We’ve been going along to get along for generations.

We don’t need another politician at the front of this movement. We need a firebrand who has fidelity to the Constitution and the America First agenda and is rooted in his or her core beliefs and principles. The recurring problem has been that there are few such individuals out there, so we have been forced to settle for less.

That is not the case today. There are several Republicans in the house who fit the bill for protecting America’s social, political, and economic values—Jim Jordan, Margery Taylor Green, Chip Roy, and Lauren Boebert to name just a few. None of the aforementioned people needs to stick a finger up in the air to see which way the wind is blowing. They know what they believe and are not afraid to articulate it. That is something we desperately need in a Republican speaker.

Kevin McCarthy can’t seem to get his finger out of the air. Yet, for all that meteorological experience, he appears happily unaware of the baleful vortex that our country is descending into. He should not be allowed anywhere near the speaker’s chair.

Frank Liberato is a pseudonym.