We wake up today to a Republican Party in disarray, bitterly divided, at war with itself, and seemingly shocked that nurturing and appeasing its lunatic fringe could end this badly. If only they had been warned. For the first time in the nation’s history, a sitting speaker of the House has been ousted; and Kevin McCarthy now has the historic distinction of having the shortest tenure with the gavel since the guy who died of tuberculosis in 1876. McCarthy, who so desperately wanted that title and the portrait — and who made one surrender after another to get them — will now be remembered merely as an asterisk, if even that. Indeed, Kevin would be a tragic figure, if he were not so utterly and clownishly pathetic. His tenure was marked by serial humiliations, each paving the way to his thoroughly undignified downfall. “Each one hopes that if he feeds the crocodile enough, the crocodile will eat him last,” Winston Churchill once quipped. “All of them hope that the storm will pass before their turn comes to be devoured.” On Tuesday, it was Kevin’s turn. And he made a particularly noisome morsel. In the end, McCarthy’s abbreviated speakership was done in by the defection of eight right-wing Republicans. He could have been rescued by the Democrats, but their message was unanimous and unambiguous: Drop Dead, Kevin. So, McCarthy became the latest victim of the MAGA-ization of his party. Despite all of Kevin’s groveling, Trump didn’t lift even a single tiny finger to save him. For the Orange God King, it was perfectly on-brand. But ultimately what happened yesterday was McCarthy’s own doing. In the end he had made himself into the hollow man, unloved, and distrusted. ** Remember when Kevin was the future of his party? Along with Paul Ryan and Eric Cantor? McCarthy lasted longer than others because he was prepared to crawl more aggressively. For a time, it seemed as if his lack of fixed principles and his willingness to self-geld would make him a survivor. In the end, though, his lack of a moral core caught up with him. ** Some pundits are suggesting that Democrats should have been “the adults in the room” and rescued McCarthy. But this is piffle on stilts, because there was nothing adult about Kevin’s short and lamentable reign, and it would have been pointless for the Democrats to pretend it was worth propping up. Let’s review some of the key moments in his fall:
“I will never leave that woman,” McCarthy told a friend, according to The New York Times. “I will always take care of her.”
** Belatedly, Kevin is noticing some things. At his swan-song post-defeat press conference last night, he said of the MAGA loyalists who ousted him: "They don’t get to say they’re conservatives because they’re angry and they’re chaotic. … They are not conservatives. They do not have a right to have the title.” Oh really? Others actually seemed puzzled about why this is happening to their party: Rep. Kelly Armstrong (R-ND) complains: "The incentive structure in this town is completely broken... we have descended to a place where clicks, TV hits and the neverending quest for the most mediocre taste of celebrity drives decisions and encourages juvenile behavior.” Really? How long as this been going on? And could it possibly have something to do with… this guy? ** For the moment, chaos reigns, dysfunction is the order of the day, and the knives are out for the most hated man in Congress: Matt Gaetz. As it enters uncharted territory, the post-Kevin GOP also doubled down on pettiness. As his first order of business as acting speaker, Patrick O’Henry ordered former Speaker Nancy Pelosi to vacate her Capitol hideaway office by today. We turn to our evergreen question: What could possibly go wrong? “Donald Trump to Be Nominated for Next Speaker of the House” — Newsweek
** Today, McCarthy ought to be asking himself: Was it worth it? Peter Wehner writes in the Atlantic:
Dana Milbank: The Chair Is Already VacantOn our pre-defenestration podcast yesterday, The Wapo’s Dana Milbank and I previewed the looming fall of Kevin. Meanwhile, Trump is much more angry about being seen as less rich than potentially going to prison. You can listen to the whole thing here. Cheap ShotsFlashback: Here’s former DC Police Officer Michael Fanone on Kevin McCarthy:
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The Fall of Kevin McCarthy
October 04, 2023
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