Again: For how long will the GOP bow to Trump?
Then-President Donald Trump with then-House Majority Leader Kevin McCarthy in 2017. Credit: Getty Images/Alex Wong
Accused felon and proven liar Donald J. Trump, the former president, retains an autocrat’s grip on much of the Republican Party, and most certainly, its House incumbents.
That’s the biggest take-away from this week’s GOP ferment in the Capitol. And those in the elected majority who might harbor the sense and courage to explicitly defy and renounce the self-serving influence of the man Joe Biden defeated have yet to show either.
Speaker Kevin McCarthy's conference dumped him nine months after he staggered into office aspiring to placate his extremists, who show they simply do not want to take the responsibility of helping govern in a democratic republic.
Of course, McCarthy was seen as untrustworthy by enough of his members for it to matter.
McCarthy may have thought that including culture-war provisions in a one-house budget bill would be enough to sustain him, in the same manner he declined to take part in a Jan. 6 probe in which he’d previously been willing to engage.
He may have thought that slow-walking an impeachment of Biden for which there’s scant supporting evidence, but which Trump would love, would allow him to have it both ways.
He might have known: Agreeing to keep the federal government functioning by Sept. 30 without forcing a costly, chaotic and destructive shutdown was too cooperative with the Democratic White House and Senate for MAGA loyalists to bear.
Once again we learn: Only one man leads in MAGA-world, and it was never going to be McCarthy, who at least understood the concept of trying to win seats in purple districts.
McCarthy’s critics seem to have adhered to Trump’s sideline screaming both at the beginning and at the end of the speaker's tenure.
On Jan. 4, with chaos in the new majority caucus, Trump posted online: "It’s now time for all of our GREAT Republican House Members to VOTE FOR KEVIN, CLOSE THE DEAL, TAKE THE VICTORY. Kevin McCarthy will do a good job, and maybe even a GREAT JOB — JUST WATCH!"
This played out like Trump’s presidential appointments — worthy of the boss' praise until they fail to satisfy his more absurd demands.
Trump always turns on the loyal. When does someone who mollifies 45, or even serves him well, come out a winner?
Recently, therefore, as McCarthy prepared to make the no-brainer choice to keep government functioning with a simple budget extension bill — since his party would be sensibly blamed for any shutdown — Trump as usual incited the flock.
“The Republicans lost big on Debt Ceiling, got NOTHING, and now are worried that they will be blamed for the Budget Shutdown,” he bellowed by internet.
This week, the Trump campaign called on the Republican National Committee, still headed by his selection Ronna McDaniel, to cancel all remaining presidential primary debates. She hid from the request. (Don't worry; he'll turn on her, too, when the moment fits.)
Even more unsurprisingly, Rep. Troy Nehls (R-Texas) announced late Tuesday he's filed paperwork to nominate Trump as the next speaker. Trump has said before he wouldn't do that, but then again, he also promised the flock that McCarthy would succeed.
It doesn’t seem to matter to Trump that McCarthy’s demise is a win for Democratic Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries whose conference showed remarkable unity in the vote.
What does matter to Trump is that he retains the ability to create governmental disruption from a safe distance.
Once again, the question becomes: How long before the men and women of the Party of Lincoln gather the gumption to free themselves from the monarch of Mar-a-Lago?
Columnist Dan Janison's opinions are his own.
Dan Janison is a member of the Newsday editorial board.
