Congressman Matt Gaetz (R-FL) was instrumental in forcing a vote to oust Kevin McCarthy (R-CA) from the speakership. Photo courtesy of BBC.
The Republican Party has had quite a week. After dodging a government shutdown and witnessing a haphazard debate, the party seems more confused than ever. The sitting speaker lost his job, the debate stage has no winners and the frontrunner is under indictment. What is going on? Dysfunction in American politics is nothing new but this does not look like business as usual. The Grand Old Party (GOP) feels like a failing sports team. There is too much bickering and not enough planning for the future. They look like the Jets: failing because they have no project and are too busy fighting behind the scenes. Republicans seem to be afflicted with both symptoms. How did we get here?
Let us rewind: Speaker of the House Kevin McCarthy narrowly avoided a government shutdown by agreeing to a 45-day extension of current spending, along with urgently needed disaster relief in exchange for no new Ukrainian aid. The final vote in the house was a bipartisan 335–91 with nearly all of the “no” votes coming from Congressional Republicans affiliated with the far right Freedom Caucus.
McCarthy now lost the job he coveted since 2015, all for the crime of keeping the government open. In the immediate aftermath of the deal, Florida Congressman Matt Gaetz called for a vote to oust his colleague. Gaetz has been a perennial thorn in McCarthy’s side. In his bid to win over Freedom Caucus members earlier this year, McCarthy compromised. He won the speaker’s gavel at a terrible cost. McCarthy was a leader in name only. He walked the tightrope of leading a thin house majority and appeasing the radical wing that can fire him at any moment.
It is reminiscent of the Dallas Cowboys’ dysfunction. In 1993, owner Jerry Jones parted ways with hall of fame coach Jimmy Johnson over Jones serving as both owner and general manager. Under Johnson, the Cowboys won two Super Bowls in 1993 and 1994. They won a third in 1996. They have not been back since.
Days before the shutdown debacle, the second Republican debate aired on Fox News with seven hopefuls for the GOP Presidential nomination. Former President Donald Trump, the party’s frontrunner, was absent from the stage once again.
The night was heavy on spectacle, light on substance. The spectre of Trump hovering in the air. None of us should be surprised that the debates were shallow. It is a TV show, that is what these things are and have been for decades. Anyone looking for serious policy discussions is in the wrong theater. The problem is that there was no drama. It is a stage of also-rans competing for best loser. In 2008, Obama separated from the pack. In 2016, Trump separated from the pack. In 2023, the only thing separating was the audience.
It is part of a broader problem: after Trump, what is the party’s succession plan? Ignoring the legal and age concerns (not easy to do!), for about a decade, the party’s been suffocated by Trump and they are now out of cards in the deck. DeSantis was supposed to be that and Trump spent months ridiculing him and getting his base to turn their back on the governor.
In sports, teams have to know where they are and where they are going, planning for the future as players age and tactics evolve. As Quarterback Brett Favre began to age and consider retirement, the Green Bay Packers drafted Aaron Rodgers in 2005. Rodgers would not become a regular starter for three years but he gave the franchise a bridge to their next era. In 2023, with Rodgers now in the Favre seat, the Jets chose not to sign a proper backup, instead keeping draft bust Zach Wilson, the player Rodgers came to replace. Four plays later, they regretted that choice as Rodgers was carted off the field with an achilles rupture.
McCarthy is now gone. If he was lucky, he would have been walking on eggshells, unable to find common ground with a Democratic Senate when the next budget showdown rolls around. All of this is expected. McCarthy nearly got the job back in 2015 after Speaker John Boehner resigned due to conflicts with Tea Party Republicans. This is what the GOP has been for over a decade. In Nancy Pelosi’s twenty year run as Democratic Party leader, she worked alongside four different Republican leaders, six conference chairs and seven vice chairs. With failing teams, there’s always a pressure to find who to blame, who to fire next and there are scrambles for power. A cycle of firing the coach, firing the general manager and another splashy signing to mollify fans as the team rots from the inside. Republicans are no different: raising new leaders just to tear them down, adopting new branding and sloganeering.
So what can they do? Not much. There is no draft pick to tank for. Fundamentally, the GOP is a party guided by ideologues who have made resistance to compromise their north star. They serve in gerrymandered districts and fundraise off a polarized, terminally online base motivated by anger that shrinks by the day. The party cannot afford to only cater to its base. Because governing cannot be boiled down to something as simplistic as sport (as much as I have tried!). Ego and ideology must give way to the mission of responsible governance. Republicans refuse. All they can think about is winning, and so, all they will do is lose.