Conservative Pundit Mocks Kevin McCarthy With Scathing Name For Looming Shutdown

The government is headed toward a “Seinfeld shutdown” thanks to House Speaker Kevin McCarthy (R-Calif.), conservative commentator Charlie Sykes said Tuesday.

“What is this shutdown about? The executive vice president of the Chamber of Commerce ― which is a Republican-leaning organization ― says he’s thinking of this as the ‘Seinfeld shutdown,’ because it’s a shutdown about nothing,” Sykes, founder of The Bulwark website, told MSNBC’s Joy Reid.

“Because there’s no endgame.”

The pundit slammed McCarthy for prioritizing his speakership over keeping the country running.

“But this was inevitable when he empowers the lunatics,” he said.

“I don’t see how this ends well for Kevin McCarthy and unfortunately, the rest of us are being held hostage as well,” he concluded.

The U.S. is headed for a federal shutdown on Oct. 1 if Congress fails to approve a spending package to fund the government.

A small, hard-right bloc of Republicans has stymied passage of spending bills in the House. McCarthy has been at their mercy after striking a deal with them to win the speaker’s gavel earlier this year.

Watch Sykes’ analysis on MSNBC below.