A Whig Moment? A Party in Peril?

The recent election process for Speaker of the House was one for the ages.

The clock was nearing midnight. The fourteenth ballot was reaching its end, with but one vote unrecorded. Then, the enraged Gentleman from Alabama—Mike Rogers—lunged at Matt Gaetz, who apparently reneged on a pledge to support Kevin ­McCarthy for Speaker. Rogers was wrestled away as the House, the country, and half the watching world saw a kind of turmoil unseen in 170 years.

Memories of Brooks-Sumner—the Caning in the Chamber—were framing the bizarre antics the newly minted Republican majority was visiting upon itself. And we were all (especially Kevin McCarthy) sent back by the 20+ dissenters to yet another demeaning, debasing, degrading, and humiliating roll call.

Were they going to come to blows? Would Rep. Lauren Boebert draw her Glock? Would Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene summon those space lasers? Will Rep. Rogers find another place to rearrange Gaetz’ physiognomy? Do we have a Republican Party? Was this what they campaigned for? Is the fate of the Republic in their hands? Do we have a functioning House of Representatives?

Those last questions are not rhetorical and are no laughing matter. McCarthy’s efforts re-define a pyrrhic victory in political terms. He clings to his perch like a leaf in a storm. He has no caucus to lead. He has no outcomes he can count on. The House, where one’s word was once one’s bond, is now a place where distrust is the common currency, dissembling the coin of the realm. Can a political party persist in the face of these fissures?