The GEOFOR editorial board asked Paul Craig Roberts, Chairman of the Institute for Political Economy (USA), a PhD in Economics and US Undersecretary of Treasury in the Reagan administration, to find out why Kevin McCarthy is leaving the post of Speaker of the US House of Representatives, how the preparation for the 2024 presidential election is going, and what place Ukraine will occupy in it.

– In Russia, the unprecedented resignation of the Speaker of the House of Representatives, the third person in the state hierarchy, is considered as evidence of the serious political crisis that Washington is currently experiencing. To what extent, in your opinion, is this assessment fair? And what does it indicate?

– The Speaker did not resign. He was removed in keeping with a provision in an agreement McCarthy signed with the Republicans who opposed him. McCarthy agreed that as Speaker he would use the office to put up more of a fight for Republican agendas than establishment Republicans are wont to do. Part of the agreement is a clause that says that the Republicans who provided the votes McCarthy needs can call up a vote on his removal as Speaker if they believe he is not keeping to the terms of the signed agreement.

McCarthy's removal is unrelated to the American political crisis. He was removed because he did not keep part of a private bargain. McCarthy knew that the Republicans would not vote to remove him, but it seems he overlooked that the Democrats would vote with the dissident Republicans in order to take advantage of the opportunity to worsen relations between the few Republicans who are principled and the majority that goes along to get along.