Mike Johnson won the speakership with the unanimous support of Republican members of the House of Representatives, Congress avoided a government shutdown and most Republicans support one candidate for the 2024 presidential election; so why does it seem that the GOP is in disarray?
The rise of Donald Trump and the “Make America Great Again” movement during the 2016 election cycle exposed a schism within the Republican party. One contingent composed of candidates such as Jeb Bush and John Kasich represented the “old party,” the ones primarily concerned with Reagan-style fiscally conservative politics. The emerging new party, led by Trump, focused more on culture wars and “draining the swamp” they called Washington.
The MAGA contingent succeeded in gaining control of the GOP at large. Trump won the 2016 election, and he still leads the polls for the 2024 election among Republicans. Speaker of the House Mike Johnson, dubbed “MAGA Mike” by members of the Democratic party, endorsed Trump for 2024, and other MAGA Republicans such as Marjorie Taylor Greene, Lauren Boebert and Paul Gosar have seats on important congressional committees like the House Oversight Committee and Homeland Security Committee. Many Republican states have MAGA governors, such as Sara Huckabee Sanders of Arkansas, Ron DeSantis of Florida and Gregg Abbott of Texas.
Republicans who remained entrenched in their old party ways and their opposition to the MAGA wave found themselves censured and ostracized. For instance, Liz Cheney, former Republican Representative of Wyoming, was one of the few Republican representatives who voted to impeach Trump in his second impeachment trial. As a result, the Wyoming Republican party voted to censure Cheney. Cheney also lost her role as conference chair after heavily criticizing Trump and lost the Wyoming Republican primary in her reelection bid.
This same MAGA contingent saw the end of Kevin McCarthy’s speakership. Rep. Matt Gaetz of Florida led the charge against McCarthy, criticizing him for collaborating with Democrats to devise a Federal budget plan. This group of far-right Republicans essentially removed McCarthy from his role because he was doing his job as Speaker, and not being an obstructionist as those MAGA Republicans had hoped. The fact that a member of the Republican party lost the speakership because he tried to avoid a government shutdown shows the direction of the GOP moving forward, can we still call this the Republican party anymore?
Trump may have asked the same question after the insurrection on Jan. 6, 2021. Trump’s disputes with Republican leadership after the attack on the Capitol led him to discuss breaking off to form his own “Patriot Party.” Republican messaging around Jan. 6 quickly went from condemnation to deflection and excuses for the attack. Matt Gaetz said the attempt to stop the election certification on Jan. 6, 2021, was a “legitimate argument about election integrity.” Once again, the MAGA group got its way.
What happened to the party of Lincoln or the party of Reagan? Respectable figures used to represent the GOP, now people like New York Rep. George Santos wear the red tie in the halls of Congress. These days, it seems that Republicans want to do more boxing than they do governance. Tennessee Rep. Tim Burchett, who voted to oust McCarthy from the role of Speaker, alleges McCarthy purposely elbowed him in the back as he talked with journalists. Oklahoma Republican Senator Markwayne Mullin challenged prominent labor leader Sean O’Brien to a fight during a hearing of the Senate Health, Education, Labor and Pensions Committee.
Parties change with time; expecting the Republican party to stay the same forever would ignore the dynamic nature of politics. However, when a party that once fought against those who sought to break this nation apart, a party that fought for the freedom of all Americans during the Civil War, becomes the party that supports the brazen assault on democracy of Jan. 6, 2021, it must give voters pause. The Republican party has resorted to obstructionism and the politics of outrage instead of the responsible governance they once preached. Republican leaders appear to spend their time in courtrooms, infighting and passing bills that stop the federal government from regulating gas stoves because they clearly believe the American people want that, instead of a plan to improve their lives. Voters will decide whether that is true in the 2024 elections.
