The Republican Party, or Grand Old Party (GOP), has been mired in Civil War over the last four years, ever since President Donald Trump was elected. But that war has taken a dramatic turn this week as House GOP leader Kevin McCarthy failed to secure enough votes to succeed Nancy Pelosi as Speaker.
Despite McCarthy’s closeness to Trump, he was seen as insufficiently conservative by hardliner members of Congress from the Freedom Caucus, whose refusal to support his candidacy has thrown the GOP into further chaos.
The cause of this implosion is the increasing factionalization of the post-Trump Republican party, between those who have embraced “Trumpism” and those who are pushing for a more traditional conservatism. This divide was laid bare in the recently concluded election, with the pair of Republican incumbents in Georgia losing their seats to Democrats in a leftward shift in the state’s politics.
On a wider scale, this split is not only harming the Republican Party but the entire political system in the United States. With battles continuing between the president and some members of Congress, the government is in limbo and unable to push forward with the promises of infrastructure and healthcare.
The departure of Mrs. Pelosi, who had a unique understanding of how to cut through both this ideological and partisan obstructism, means that the hurdles facing the Republicans and Democrats will become even steeper.
For both parties, the only way forwards is to find common ground and rebuild bridges. That, and for Kevin McCarthy and the rest of the GOP to overcome its internal conflicts and build a majority in the House of Representatives. Until then, the government’s war of attrition with itself should only be expected to continue.
