The House divided . . . .

By the time you read this, we will know whether the junta called the Freedom Caucus has driven the country into another chaotic government closure. But, then again, the House is nothing short of a House of chaos itself. Speaker Kevin McCarthy is so compromised that he is reduced to serving as a sock puppet for the far-right members of his party. He hasn’t been able to clear a single one of 12 appropriations bills for a vote with a September 30 deadline looming and appears powerless to act, either to spare the country or save his job.

Along the way, the benchmarks of the budget reconciliation agreed to a few short months ago—with stringent spending limits forced by the Freedom Caucus—are being openly rejected to be replaced by precisely the draconian proposals rejected earlier. And all this backed by a threat to remove McCarthy should he act in the interests of the country, and not the fringe elements of his own party. As the election of McCarthy to the Speakership made plain for the world to see, there is no concession McCarthy won’t make to grasp and keep his tenuous grip on power—but he is so blinded by ambition that he doesn’t realize he has already relinquished his power to gain the trappings of office. The paucity of McCarthy’s influence is further revealed by his seeking an impeachment inquiry as a sop to his far right, but he had to do so without a vote of his own caucus, which likely would have rejected the craven and distracting effort. To paraphrase American poet Ezra Pound: What is this thing that hath a code but hath no core?