House Speaker vote: The Republican incoherence is scary, not funny.
Maybe one reason why it feels funny-ish is because there is finally a great big Trump-shaped hole at the center of this week’s performances. In 2021, Donald Trump was demonstrably on the side of the insurrectionists. This week, Trump called for his followers to support Kevin McCarthy. This time, they ignored him. Because he’s irrelevant now, a vestige of the Crazypants era of lawlessness and nihilism. We’ve moved on to the next era, the post-Crazypants era, in which various unqualified gun nuts and racists vie for the empty throne, without either the purse or the limited vision of the reality show star who came before them. None of the disruptors care about much of anything at this juncture. Whether the prospect of Trumpism without Trump chills you or relieves you, the fact is that that MAGA faction that has stymied the transition to a GOP-led House is essentially leaderless—but it is also powerful. That is not, at least to my eyes, a meaningful improvement on 2021.
House Speaker vote: The Republican incoherence is scary, not funny.