The Republican party showed just how much it is run by its most extreme members when they booted Speaker of the House Kevin McCarthy out of his leadership position just a few days ago. While I have no sympathy for McCarthy, the difficulty of his position reveals how far to the right the party is today: yes, the man who said that Trump won in 2020, bowed down to him just days after the January 6th riot, and pushed for an impeachment inquiry into President Joe Biden wasn't conservative enough for some House members. His sin (to them) was his recent willingness to cut a deal with Democrats to keep the government open another 45 days without demanding draconian spending cuts to the budget. And, because of his bowing to the right, no Democrat was willing to to support him, leaving him a man without enough support in his own party to get the votes to remain speaker. It's really remarkable, but not surprising, that a minority of the Republican party, which only currently controls only one branch of congress, thinks that they should have undue influence in the running of our government, without making any attempt to compromise, or even accept that they are in the minority.
It should be pointed out that the voting out of a house speaker is something that has never happened before in the entire history of our country. Yes, another terrible precedent has been broken by the Donald Trump wing of the government. And don't kid yourself, Trump was part of this. He has both privately and publicly stated that he wants Biden impeached, forcing McCarthy to push for an impeachment investigation without evidence. Trump also seems to think that the house can somehow rescind his two impeachments. He even posted on social media that he thought that shutting down the government would somehow end the criminal trials that he's facing. And to top it off, some congresspeople think that Trump himself should be elected speaker, something he hasn't completely dismissed. And the idea that a one term, twice impeached former president facing multiple felony charges could be voted in as leader of the House of Representatives, putting him in charge of the phony Biden impeachment investigation, shows just how completely loony tunes our politics have become since Trump entered the scene.
All of this madness comes with the backdrop of recent polls showing Trump tied with or ahead of Biden in next year's presidential election. Now while those polls are early, and a lot of could happen between now and then (for one thing, Trump's court trials will be taking place), it is horrifying that a corrupt criminal sociopath like him could even get one percent of the vote. But, as always, the strength of the Trump cult and its hold over a surprisingly significant percentage of the population is seems unbreakable, no matter how many crimes he has obviously committed.
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