A sobering look at the future of the Republican caucus.
Wednesday afternoon, Representative Steve Scalise of Louisiana won a preliminary vote among House Republicans to be speaker. But far from ending the party's self-generated chaos, the vote only kicked off a new round of it. |
And as I wrote in an Opinion essay published that morning, in the longer term both Scalise and his rival for the job, Representative Jim Jordan of Ohio, would bring further instability to Congress and do little to enhance the increasingly shaky reputation of the United States at a moment of global conflict. |
Scalise, currently the majority leader, had hoped his victory in a closed-door Republican meeting would lead to a quick confirmation vote on the House floor, making him speaker by the end of the day. But the Republican caucus is far too divided and directionless for that kind of immediate consensus. Ninety-nine of its members voted against Scalise in that meeting, quickly making it clear he hadn't yet won over enough members to reach the necessary threshold of 217 votes on the floor. House leaders had to cancel a planned vote, and it's not certain when it might happen. |
Remember the embarrassing 15 rounds of ballots before Kevin McCarthy won the job in January? Republicans are desperate to avoid that degrading spectacle again, and want to prove their unity and sense of purpose to the world. |
But since they lack unity and real purpose, they have no idea how to achieve that goal, even at a time when the crises in Israel and Ukraine demand American resolve and leadership. |
As I wrote in the essay, even the choice between Scalise and Jordan demonstrated how dysfunctional the House Republican caucus has become. Both have appealed to the party's worst instincts, preferring confrontation with Democrats to the business of governing, and their willingness to pander to the lowest Trumpian level of their voters guarantees more breakdowns ahead. |
Examples: Scalise and Jordan are both skeptical of aid to Ukraine. They both refused to say that Joe Biden won the 2020 election, and voted against certifying the results. And they both have suggested using fiscal blackmail to get their way in cutting federal spending. |
At the moment, Scalise seems the more likely to eventually win the chair, and he's a somewhat better choice than Jordan, especially since his victory would mean a repudiation of Donald Trump's full-throated endorsement of Jordan. But what promises to party extremists will he have to make to get there? And how long will the unruly caucus stand behind him? Don't raise your hopes too high. |
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