Kevin McCarthy’s troubles bode ill for America | Editorial

It was a painful spectacle to watch Rep. Kevin McCarthy smiling in the House chamber while his Republican colleagues humiliated him and he repeatedly failed to muster enough votes to be elected speaker.

Early Saturday morning, after days of negotiations and 15 rounds of voting, McCarthy finally won the speakership, but he bargained away his respect and power. In the end, the American people lost as the House dysfunction will likely drag on for the next two years.

His political immolation is part of the disturbing race to the bottom for a rudderless Republican Party whose apparent raison d’être is raw power and attention.

Voters who want a functioning democracy should not continue to enable this strain of Republican nihilism. Beyond McCarthy’s debasement, blundering the basic task of electing a speaker is likely a small preview of the circus to come in the 118th Congress.

The Grand Old Party’s ruination has been years in the making, devolving from the obstructionist Tea Party and unqualified Sarah Palin to showboats like Reps. Matt Gaetz and Lauren Boebert.

Donald Trump helped speed up this ugly process. Instead of standing up to him, the GOP has been cowed into an unprincipled and dysfunctional mob that remains a threat to democracy. The speaker chaos — led by Trump loyalists — is just the latest chapter.

» READ MORE: Jan. 6 committee report is clear: Trump must be held accountable | Editorial

In 2020, the Republican Party announced it would have no new platform. Instead, the GOP went all in on Trump, a narcissistic self-promoter turned reality TV host who once opposed much of what Republicans supposedly stand for.

Tough on defense? Trump reportedly faked an injury to dodge the Vietnam War. Fiscal conservative? On top of his business failures, Trump ratcheted up the national debt to one of the highest levels recorded by any president.

Family values? The twice-divorced Trump paid off a porn star and a Playboy model, and bragged about groping women. Antiabortion? Trump once said he was “very pro-choice.”

Just how discombobulated is the Republican Party? Trump, the GOP’s standard-bearer, was once a registered Democrat from New York City who donated to Joe Biden, Kamala Harris, and the Clinton Foundation.

Long before Trump, the GOP was a party that excelled at slogans but struggled to govern. Newt Gingrich’s “Contract with America” promptly led to a government shutdown. George W. Bush’s “compassionate conservatism” fizzled as he launched America into its longest war.

Then along came Trump’s “Make America Great Again,” which resulted in four years of chaos and incompetence, two impeachments, a failed response to the pandemic, and fractured relations with allies. Trump stoked hate, antisemitism, and racial animus — and incited a deadly coup attempt.

Even after more than 30,000 documented lies and mounting state and federal investigations, Trump remains the Republican front-runner in 2024.

Through it all McCarthy vacillated. After the insurrection, McCarthy blasted Trump and planned to urge him to resign. But weeks later, McCarthy paid fealty to Trump at Mar-a-Lago.

McCarthy sold his soul to become speaker — a job he’s long coveted. McCarthy may have blown his chance as far back as 2015, when he admitted on Fox News that the Benghazi hearings were political theater to hurt Hillary Clinton before her presidential run.

This time around, an arrogant McCarthy claimed he earned the top job and moved into the speaker’s office before the votes were cast. But the would-be speaker flunked Politics 101 when he forgot how to count votes.

Even lawmakers in Harrisburg, where the political divide is more muddled, were able to agree on a House speaker on day one. A feat that underscores McCarthy’s utter incompetence.

» READ MORE: On 2nd anniversary of Jan. 6, Trump’s disciples succeed in shutting down the Capitol

It’s hard to imagine how the divided House Republicans will govern on real issues that affect taxpayers, let alone in a national crisis. Just imagine if they were in charge on Jan. 6, 2021. Even the New York Post urged the GOP to end the madness and “Grow up!”

One problem is a dangerous faction of House Republicans does not like or trust McCarthy because he’s not extreme enough. The other problem is McCarthy is an empty vessel who further shamed himself by remaining silent as George Santos slinked into the U.S. Capitol under a cloud of investigations after lying about nearly everything on his resumé.

Santos is the latest poster boy for the Republican charlatans who are parading as public servants.

Even worse, the GOP has been overtaken by an extreme right wing with no interest in governing. They include tinhorns like Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene and bomb throwers in the Freedom Caucus, which consists of election deniers, insurrectionists, and QAnon conspiracy theorists.

Rep. Scott Perry of York — who sought a pardon after conspiring to overturn the 2020 presidential election — chairs the Freedom Caucus and helped lead the McCarthy blockade. Perry, who has pushed other baseless conspiracies, voted with 146 other Republicans to stifle Joe Biden’s 2020 victory. They remain the cancer in the Capitol.

In normal times, Perry and others in the sedition caucus would either resign in disgrace, be cast out by party leaders, or disqualified from office via the 14th Amendment. Instead, the country must watch in embarrassment as Perry and other GOP ciphers attempt to burn down the House.