GOP House Majority Leader Kevin McCarthy had technical difficulties with his Twitter 'censorship' complaint

House Majority Leader Kevin McCarthy (R-Calif.) spent his August break traveling across the U.S. to shore up vulnerable House Republicans and, not coincidentally, bolster his bid to take over as leader of the House Republican caucus when Speaker Paul Ryan (R-Wis.) steps down, The Washington Post reports. McCarthy is close with President Trump, but he "faces persistent doubts among the most conservative GOP voters, who have long seen him as part of an establishment that has sought to sideline their views," the Post says. Those doubts helped sink his 2015 bid to become House speaker, and so he has been working "to strengthen his standing with conservatives by pushing for House action on spending cuts and hard-line immigration measures."

And recently, McCarthy, 53, has joined the ranks of Republicans accusing Twitter of censoring conservatives, a charge made on Twitter by Trump himself this weekend. But McCarthy's example of Twitter bias toward conservatives mostly demonstrated that he has chosen, wittingly or unwittingly, to screen out "sensitive content." As House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.), a 78-year-old grandmother, pointed out:

McCarthy shot back on Twitter, "Once again Nancy has no idea what is going on," without explaining what Pelosi purportedly doesn't understand. In any case, if you, unlike McCarthy, would like to see "sensitive content" on Twitter without the scourge of "censorship," the Twitterati are happy to show you which box to check. Peter Weber

The Week

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