The second anniversary of democracy’s near-death experience, the Jan. 6 insurrection, was overshadowed by the drama surrounding the election of the speaker of the House of Representatives in the 118th Congress. While President Biden was honoring those who fought to defend our freedoms in a ceremony at the White House, an untethered majority Republican caucus, many of whom are election deniers, failed to elect a leader.
In an embarrassing display of party dysfunction, Americans witnessed firsthand how the MAGA wing of the Republican Party has taken control. But after a series of emasculating concessions by the presumptive speaker, Rep. Kevin McCarthy, R-Calif., the beneficiaries on the extreme right allowed a weakened McCarthy to grab the gavel.
With historic humiliation in the rearview mirror, McCarthy thanked Donald Trump for his support. It was an unmistakable acknowledgment of Trump’s ongoing influence on Republican lawmakers who refuse to hold the de facto leader of their party accountable for his attempts to undermine the Constitution.
Jim Paladino
Tampa, Fla.
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