THE BREAKING THINGS PARTY

After yesterday’s humiliation of having the opposition to Kevin McCarthy’s election as Speaker of the House grow by the third rejection, the inability of McCarthy and his supporters to whip the necessary 218 votes to adjourn today, thus forcing him to endure three more rejections as the same 20 opponents chose a new candidate to vote for unanimously, while also losing one of his own voters who became “present,” demonstrates as clearly as anything that no matter what happens, the dumbest candidate for Speaker this century is not going to achieve his lifetime goal. As of this evening, he counts it a victory that he was able to obtain a two-vote majority to adjourn the House and avoid a seventh humiliation until tomorrow.

The events of the past two days have been predictable, unbelievable and hilarious - simultaneously

The Professional Purveyors of The Common Wisdom now explain the phenomenon as demonstrating that the issue between McCarthy and his 20 tormentors is actually personal - they don’t trust him now, have never trusted him, and will never trust him.

This is maybe even true, given the way McCarthy has operated since he proclaimed himself one of the Three Horsement of the Apocalypse, er, I mean, the future of Conservatism, as part of the Young Guns. For those with short attention spans, Qjuiverin’ Qevin is now the sole surviving Gun - Eric Cantor was turfed out in the 2014 primary by an out-of-nowhere wingnut whackjob named Dave Bratt, who lasted two terms before being returned to the richly-deserved obscurity in which the rest of his life has been played out. Paul Ryan - the “smart” one of the three - finally bailed out of politics completely in 2019 after his turn in the big bass drum the House Fwee-dumb Kawkus beat on that Republicans keep mistaking for the Speaker’s Office.

But really, this all goes back to 2008, when the Republicans lost to a ni-i-i-, Barack Obama, which was just so Not The Way Things Work For Us that the party that had first attracted the Old Confederacy to the candidacy of Barry Goldwater; followed by a formal invitation to the unreconstructed Southern inbreds made by Richard Nixon; confirmed by “amiable dunce” Ronald Reagan who was smart enough to announce his candidacy as the proponent of “states’ rights” in Philadelphia, Mississippi, a dog whistle heard by every Southernist from coast to coast; followed up by “respectable” G.H.W. Bush and the “Willie Horton ad;” followed by the incendiary speakership of Newt Gingrich, who proved that the graduate of a Pennsylvania trailer park could be as good a Confederate as any Georgia peckerwood. The result of the loss to That Guy in 2008 was the party going full CuckooBird Crazy - the knuckle-draggers who attended Palin rallies carrying “monkey dolls” turned into the Tea Party, which was institutionalized in 2014 with the creation of the House Freedom Caucus..

From the swearing-in of the Tea Party-dominated 113th Congress in January 2011, the Republicans who actually believed in governing were in the minority and on the way out, whether they knew it or not. The “Establishment” that had previously laughed at the “kooks” who were now newly-sworn-in congress critters, realized that the part of the Republican base that had sent “those guys” was part of their support too.

From that point onward, the two factions of the party were in an unspoken alliance.

The Serious People who knew that the embarrassing grandstanding and performative nonsense the “crazies” were engaged in were sure that the crazies and “learned their lesson” with their failure in the 2013 government shut down that led to the credit rating of the country being lowered, with all the blame focused on the “crazies.” The Serious People just needed to be sure the “crazies” were kept in check.

The “frontman” in the House might have been John Boehner, but the Freedom Caucus that couldn’t govern openly could prevent him accomplishing anything they didn’t agree with. And when he didn’t say “How High” on the way up when they said “Jump!” he found himself obn the slow train to Palookaville.

All Donald Trump ever did was come along and toss a lit match into the fireworks factory.

All the white supremacy that had gown in the Party of Lincoln since 1964 - quietly, of course, the way such racial order is maintained privately in most of American history - finally achieved critical mass and the crock pot boiled over when Trump turned up the heat.

It wasn’t just that Trump didn’t know anyone in Washington to bring into government that the top people in his administration were all Freedom Caucus alumni. They recognized him for what he was: the guy with the key to them running the party openly

As Josh Marshall pointed out, “It’s not the case that every Republican member of Congress is the same as Jim Jordan or Matt Gaetz. But virtually all of them rely on a coalition of voters that wants to support Jim Jordan and Matt Gaetz. That’s really all that matters. The GOP is a balkanized party made up of elected officials who either are Jim Jordan or aren’t willing to cross Jim Jordan.” Or as Will Saletan put it, “The GOP is a failed state and Donald Trump is its warlord.”

In fact, the “Republican Establishment” has been dead since January 6, 2021 when - mere hourse after a violent mob had assaulted the Capitol, 137 Republican members of Congress voted in favor of the mob.

What is going on this week is not a fight between the extremists and the establishment.

It’s between two camps of extremists.

McCarthy and the rest of the “establishment” were among those who refused to certify Biden’s Electoral College victory. McCarthy, would-be “replacement” Steve Scalis, and all the others have faithfully repeated the Big Lie that the 2020 election was stolen; they all pushed for an end to the military’s COVID-19 vaccine mandate during the budget negotiations last month; they all gave money to Harriet Hageman to assure the defeat Liz Cheney in the Wyoming primary last summer; they all see Marjorie Taylor Greene as being worthy of major committee assignments; they’re all ready to impeach Alejandro Mayorkas, investigate Hunter Biden’s laptop, and the first thing they did yesterday morning was to remove the magnetometers at the entrance to the House floor. They all failed to condemn the attack on Paul Pelosi; they were silent when Trump dined with Kanye West and Nick Fuentes; they support removing Adam Schiff, Eric Swalwell, and Ilhan Omar, as “payback” for Democrats removing Marjorie Taylor Greene from her committees. Even the ones who “support” Ukraine say there can be no “blank check. Marjorie Taylor Greene and Jim Jordan are among McCarthy’s strongest supporters now.

How has McCarthy and any of the “responsible Republicans” been different from the 20 House Freedom Caucus members?

Well, so far, neither McCarthy nor any of the “responsible Republicans” have taken positions like those of 20-19-2022 HFC leader Andy Biggs, who refused to wear a mask even at the height of the pandemic, sought a presidential pardon for participation in the fake elector conspiracy, voted against recognizing the Capitol police who defended him on January 6, opposed aid to Ukraine while the border with Mexico is unsecured, and opposed admitting Sweden and Finland to NATO.

None of them voted with Scott Perry, who opposed a House resolution condemning Qanon and recommended Jeffrey Clark be installed as Attorney General, and also requested a presidential pardon for his activities.

These views place the Freedom Caucus outside the realm of reason, but that didn’t stop McCarthy from announcing surrender to their demands. There is no price McCarthy would not pay, but there is no way for McCarthy to negotiate with people whose only aim is to be seen as opposing him.

This is the predictable end of a political party that descended into mindless demonization of Democrats, the “deep state, immigrants, the medical profession, the “woke” military, the FBI - because it was what its Foxified base demanded.

.And their would-be warlord has discovered he has no control over his minions, because the minions don’t see themselves as such.

Yesterday, people were asking, “Where is Trump in McCarthy’s hour of need?” It’s reported today that he was working the phones for McCarthy all day, but his pleas had no impact. There’s a story that those who received his calls responded to his request they support Kevin with suggestions that Trump should become their Speaker. Naturally, such obvious flattery is Trump’s ultimate aphrodisac; it put him off his demands for loyalty. But this evening, Lauren Boebert got up in the House and publicly told “my favorite president” that he should “knock off telling us to vote for Kevin McCarthy and start telling everyone else to stop (voting for McCarthy).”

Yes, the Purveyors of Conventional Wisdom say that the opposition to McCarthy comes from the fact the 20 rebels can’t trust him, despite his demonstration that he will give in to literally every t demand. But that isn’t enough because they want to break things. Breaking things is now their only goal. Right now, that thing top be broken is Kevin McCarthy.

But all this shows that they cannot be trusted with power. McCarthy and the House Republican caucus are now defined as unfit and weakened by their behavior these past two days.

They can probably kiss their tiny four-seat majority goodbye sooner than 2024, starting with the special election to replace George-Anthony Santos-Devlolder, or whatever his name really is.

They are the Breaking Things Party. That’s it.  

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