RUBEN NAVARRETTE JR.: McCarthy lost his hometown values, then lost the speakership

The public might have more trust in the media if more columnists could say three words: I was wrong.

If my colleagues need lessons, they should see me. I’ve had lots of practice. I can’t seem to predict what is going to happen in a political system that has become so wacky and chaotic since Donald Trump entered the sandbox eight years ago.

Last month, during an appearance on a morning TV news show in Los Angeles, I predicted that House Speaker Kevin McCarthy would survive an attempt to oust him led by eight GOP insurgents. I noted that pro-McCarthy lawmakers outnumbered the extremists by more than 10-to-1. Besides, I said, McCarthy was working with Democrats who had helped him avert a government shutdown. He would be fine, I said.

Two days later, I was back on the same morning show to do a mea culpa. McCarthy had been ousted when all 208 House Democrats in attendance sided with the eight Republican bomb-throwers rather than try to continue to work with McCarthy. The die was cast after McCarthy told House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries that Democrats would get no concessions in exchange for their support. Jeffries also showed Democrats a video clip of the then-speaker on a news program Sunday morning blaming Democrats for the near-shutdown — when it was Republicans who had pushed the government to the brink.

When I heard that McCarthy was out of the speaker’s chair, my mind went immediately to his hometown of Bakersfield, California

As someone who also grew up in the farmland of the Central Valley and went to high school when McCarthy did — in the early to mid-1980s — less than two hours up the road, I took pride in the fact that one of our own had ascended the political ranks and become House speaker. Ideologically, our politics don’t match. But then, as a centrist, I’m not any closer to Jeffries and other House Democrats. What mattered to me, and the reason my interactions with McCarthy were always friendly whenever we met, was that he and I came from the same part of the world. Simple as that.

If asked why McCarthy was removed, one could easily come up with at least 10 solid reasons.

One thing he did right was allowing an ethics inquiry into Rep. Matt Gaetz to go forward. Gaetz then became McCarthy’s mortal enemy and a leader of the insurgents.

Still, for the most part, McCarthy got himself into this mess, and then he couldn’t get out. The dealbreaker was trustworthiness — or, in McCarthy’s case, a lack thereof. Democrats came to the same conclusion that the eight GOP insurgents had: McCarthy was dishonest and could not be trusted to keep his promises.

Of course, they had different complaints. The Republicans said McCarthy reneged on his pledge to be fiscally conservative when it came to spending, while Democrats claimed that the speaker had violated a promise to hold a floor vote before starting an impeachment inquiry. Both sides got snookered.

The irony is thick. Politicians lie to constituents and break promises all the time. That is their standard operating procedure. But when other politicians do it to them, they don’t like it much.

Don’t cry for Kevin. He will be fine. While he is probably one of the most unpopular lawmakers in Washington at the moment, McCarthy also has a shot at redemption. He can now go home to Bakersfield and tell people that he got fired because he put it all on the line to avert a shutdown. Doing so preserved the paychecks of government workers, including Border Patrol agents and U.S. troops. That’s not a bad narrative.

Still, I am disappointed in McCarthy. Not because of the fancy title he lost. I couldn’t care less about that — and I bet neither could most of his constituents. What upsets me, and probably a bunch of them, is that he should never have arrived at this place to begin with.

He got here because he lost his way.

In the rural San Joaquin Valley that produced us both, your word is everything. People do what they say they’re going to do. Their integrity matters, as does their reputation. They protect both.

McCarthy was supposed to know all this. Somewhere along the line — probably because of all the years he spent trudging through the swamps of Washington — he forgot the values he was raised on. Now, he’s been given a reminder.

Ruben Navarrette’s email address is crimscribe@icloud.com. His podcast, “Ruben in the Center,” is available through every podcast app.