Republicans aren’t doing well right now. The midterm elections felt like a defeat, because the Senate majority remained with the Democrats and, contrary to expectations, the House of Representatives only fell to the Republicans by a very narrow margin. Ex-President Donald Trump, it turned out, has a deterrent effect on many voters and the party is unable to free itself from his clutches.
And now the farce of the election of the new Republican speaker of the House of Representatives, which has been failing for days. Arch-opportunist Kevin McCarthy did not manage to get enough votes from his own party until Thursday, despite a record number of eleven ballots.
The Republicans present the picture of a fragmented party in which personal vanities are more important than governing. Whatever the outcome, one thing is already clear: the new House Republican leader will be a weak leader. A stark contrast to her predecessor, Democrat Nancy Pelosi, who is considered one of the most powerful speakers in the history of the House of Representatives.
In fact, the disruptions in the Republican Party can only be partially attributed to the Trump era. Rather, the ideological fragmentation goes back to the financial crisis of 2008/9. Back then, in the late days of George W. Bush’s presidency, a stimulus and bank bailout package was rushed through Congress, enraging free-market Republicans and flushing a significant number of Tea Party Republicans into the House in 2010.
It was difficult for then-Republican minority leader John Boehner to keep his shop together under Democratic President Barack Obama, and Boehner threw in the towel in 2015 in exasperation. Today it is supporters of the Freedom Caucus, a coalition of particularly conservative and Tea Party Republicans, who refuse to vote for McCarthy. Sure, both parties always have a small minority of radicals in the House of Representatives who cause unrest. But only with the Republicans are they currently able to throw the show.
