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Last month, a federal grand jury indicted Sen. Bob Menendez and his wife Nadine on charges of bribery. Menendez allegedly provided sensitive information to the Egyptian government and assisted a businessman whose company certified halal meat imports. Following a text by his wife to an Egyptian contact — “Anytime you need anything you have my number and we will make everything happen” — Menendez expressed his “concern about the stalled negotiations” over a dam on the Nile River to State and Treasury Department officials.

In return, the couple allegedly received more than $500,000 in cash, “much of it stuffed in envelopes and hidden in clothing, closets and a safe deposit box”; gold bars worth hundreds of thousands of dollars; a Mercedes-Benz convertible; payments toward a home mortgage; compensation for a “low-or-no-show” job; and “other items of value.” Menendez, denouncing a rush “to judge a Latino and push him out of his seat,” has pled not guilty.

31 Senate Democrats have called for Menendez’s resignation. Pointing to “shocking allegations of corruption and specific, disturbing details of wrongdoing,” Cory Booker, the other senator from New Jersey, declared that the faith and trust of citizens in his state, which are “essential to our ability to do our work and perform our duties … has been shaken to the core,” and urged Menendez to step down.

The response from congressional Republicans has been dramatically different.

No Republican senators have publicly called for Menendez’s resignation. Sen. Marco Rubio and Sen. Ted Cruz maintain Menendez deserves a fair trial, a claim no one disputes. While acknowledging the charges are “serious and troubling,” Sen. Tom Cotton declared Menendez “should be judged by jurors and New Jersey voters,” and pointed to the “troubling record of failure and corruption” of the Department of Justice “in cases of public figures.”

At first, then-House Speaker Kevin McCarthy called the evidence in the indictment of Menendez “pretty black and white.” Asked if the senator should resign, McCarthy replied, “Yeah, very much so.” But a few days later, when a reporter wondered whether New York Rep. George Santos — who lied about the universities he attended; his volleyball prowess at Baruch College; employment at Citigroup and Goldman Sachs; Jewish lineage; his mother’s presence at the Twin Towers on 9/11; and has been indicted for fraud, money laundering, and theft of public funds — should resign as well, McCarthy changed his tune. “I think George could have his day in court,” he said, “and I think Menendez could have his day in court.” Reminded of his previous statement about Menendez, McCarthy opined, “It could be his choice of what he wants to do, yes.”

Preserving the Republicans’ slim majority in the House of Representatives was a factor in the refusal of all but Sen. Mitt Romney and a dozen GOP congressmen and women to call for the resignation of Santos.

But the elephant in the room is the former president. As McCarthy discovered, demanding that Menendez and/or Santos step down requires explaining why the same logic doesn’t apply to Trump, who has been criminally indicted four times. An explanation neither McCarthy — who told his colleagues in January 2021 that Trump should resign, and then made a pilgrimage to Mar-a-Lago to ask forgiveness — nor the vast majority of Republicans want to make.

Nor is this the only recent example of Republicans’ obeisance to Trump.

Republican politicians have avoided commenting on the civil trial for Trump’s company, in which a judge has already found fraud that may result in the dissolution of his business empire. Or when the former president falsely accused Gen. Mark Milley, Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, of committing “a treasonous act … so egregious that, in times gone by, the punishment would have been death.” Republicans in the House, who censured Rep. Adam Schiff in June for “misleading” the American public during investigations of then-President Trump, have not taken any action against Rep. Paul Gosar for tweeting, “In a better society, quislings like the strange sodomy-promoting General Milley would be hung.”

Do congressional Republicans really support law and order, with no one above the law; respect military leaders; and demand high ethical standards for government officials? Or do they sacrifice these principles to the personal and political interests of one man?

Glenn C. Altschuler is the Thomas and Dorothy Litwin Professor of American Studies at Cornell University. He is the co-author (with Stuart Blumin) of “Rude Republic: Americans and Their Politics in the Nineteenth Century.”

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Why Republicans in Congress arent condemning corrupt politicians - The Hill

House Republicans, divided and demoralized after the ouster of their speaker this week, are now quietly feuding over how to elect a successor.

The dispute, which erupted on Friday, suggests that the same divisions that led to the downfall of former Speaker Kevin McCarthy are continuing to fester inside the G.O.P. ranks, setting the stage for a potentially bruising contest next week when lawmakers were set to meet to elect his replacement.

At issue is a request made by more than 90 House Republicans on Friday to temporarily change the partys internal rules for nominating a candidate for speaker. In a brief letter to Representative Patrick T. McHenry of North Carolina, the interim speaker, and Representative Elise Stefanik of New York, the conference chair, the group requested a special organizational meeting to consider the change. The New York Times obtained a copy of the letter.

In the letter, they asked for an amendment to temporarily raise the threshold to become the nominee. Proponents of the change have been pushing to require a unanimous vote of the Republican conference, instead of the current bar of a majority.

They have presented the idea as a way to foster unity after the deeply divisive ouster of Mr. McCarthy at the hands of eight, mostly right-wing rebels who went against the rest of their Republican colleagues this week.

It would, in theory, avoid a replay of the public chaos that unfolded in January, when the nation watched as the House slogged through 15 rounds of roll call votes until Republicans finally coalesced around Mr. McCarthy, a veteran lawmaker from California.

But supporters of Representative Steve Scalise of Louisiana, the majority leader who is running for speaker, quickly cried foul, arguing that the change would only make it more difficult for him to be elected.

The idea that the fractured G.O.P. conference could unanimously come together behind either Mr. Scalise or the other declared candidate, Representative Jim Jordan of Ohio, is also virtually unthinkable.

But Mr. Scalises allies believe that he would win a majority over Mr. Jordan, putting him in a strong position to beat the Ohio Republican on the House floor under the current rules.

Changing the rules is going to create chaos and only advantages candidates who cant get to 51 percent in the closed-door vote, said Representative Lance Gooden of Texas, who has said he is backing Mr. Scalise.

Representative Ann Wagner of Missouri, who is also backing Mr. Scalise, said that a last-minute, rushed rule change is really not what the conference needs right now.

We need unity and we need leadership, she said. We should all be prepared to support the nominee who the majority chooses.

She added that there was nothing binding about a conference meeting vote. The only vote that is binding is done in full transparency on the floor of the House of Representatives, she said.

House Republicans were scheduled to meet behind closed doors on Tuesday to nominate a new candidate for speaker by secret ballot, and a floor vote could take place as early as the next day.

Under the current Republican conference rules, whoever emerges from the secret ballot with a simple majority of votes wins. Changing the rules could lead to a much more drawn-out process wherein both candidates would have to battle to get the entire conference behind them.

Mr. Scalises allies regard the effort as a bid by those who are boosting Mr. Jordans candidacy to tilt the scales in his favor. One of the people leading the charge for the change was Representative Chip Roy of Texas, who has endorsed Mr. Jordan.

Mr. McCarthys allies have also been pressing members to sign on, arguing that the rule change would help keep any infighting behind closed doors. The former speaker has long had a rocky and competitive relationship with Mr. Scalise. And the sense among Mr. Scalises backers is that they have a vested interest in helping to elect Mr. Jordan as speaker.

The members who signed the letter come from all factions of the Republican conference. They included Representative Garret Graves of Louisiana, a loyal McCarthy ally, and Representative Bob Good of Virginia, one of the eight hard-right members who voted to oust him.

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Days Before a Vote, Republicans Feud Over How to Choose a New ... - The New York Times

Rep. Matt Gaetz, R-Fla., appears before the House Rules Committee at the Capitol in Washington on Sept. 22. Gaetz introduced a Motion to Vacate House Speaker Kevin McCarthy that led to the first ouster of a sitting Speaker in American history. J. Scott Applewhite/AP hide caption

Rep. Matt Gaetz, R-Fla., appears before the House Rules Committee at the Capitol in Washington on Sept. 22. Gaetz introduced a Motion to Vacate House Speaker Kevin McCarthy that led to the first ouster of a sitting Speaker in American history.

With the historic vote in the House of Representatives that removed Speaker Kevin McCarthy from his post atop the chamber, one particular Republican rose to national attention for his role as Congressional disruptor: Rep. Matt Gaetz of Florida

After leading the group of hardline Republicans who fought against funding the government and blasted McCarthy for the deal he did to avert a government shutdown, Gaetz delivered a Motion to Vacate, the procedural resolution that can remove a speaker from that position.

But even after the vote and amid searing critique from his fellow Republicans, Gaetz remained defiant.

"I think that this represents the ripping off of the band-aid and that's what we have to do to get back on track," he told reporters in front of the Capitol shortly after Tuesday's vote.

That's a position that is not widely shared in his party, but in his congressional district in northwest Florida, it's a completely different story.

In this file photo, former Florida state Sen. Don Gaetz, R, left, hugs his son, former state Rep. Matt Gaetz, R, after he was sworn in as the newest member of the house on April 15, 2010, in Tallahassee, Fla. Steve Cannon/ASSOCIATED PRESS hide caption

In this file photo, former Florida state Sen. Don Gaetz, R, left, hugs his son, former state Rep. Matt Gaetz, R, after he was sworn in as the newest member of the house on April 15, 2010, in Tallahassee, Fla.

Matt Gaetz has been making political waves in Florida for a long time. The son of Florida's former Senate President, he was first elected to Florida's legislature 13 years ago at 31. Then, in 2016, he ran for - and won - a congressional seat.

Even before that though, he was cementing himself as a self-described 'firebrand,' also the title of his 2020 autobiography.

The chair of Florida's Democratic Party, Nikki Fried, remembers a young, high-school student already stirring things up. As a college student, she helped run a debate tournament that Gaetz appeared in.

"And he was actually kicked out of our student Congress for being disrespectful, disruptive, getting his way or the highway," she recalled. "So unfortunately, these are the patterns of who Matt Gaetz is."

After publication, a spokesperson for Gaetz disputed Fried's account, saying she is wrong and Gaetz has never competed in a student Congress event, nor has he been kicked out of a competition.

When reached for reaction, Fried stood by her story.

Regardless of how he presented himself early in the formation of his political identity, his constituents don't seem to mind the role he plays now. Gaetz's Congressional district on Florida's panhandle is one of the most Republican in the state. He easily won reelection every term since first going to Congress. Still, some conservative Republicans in his district, like Renee Johnmeyer say they began to think Gaetz was all talk and no action.

"I felt like it was a lot of word service," Johnmeyer recalled of her congressman's tenure in Congress, "that he was just saying things and not making things happen."

Johnmeyer is active in the Santa Rosa County Republican Party, right in the heart of Gaetz's district. At a local restaurant for a club meeting, she expressed skepticism about him, but said his actions this week have won him a lot of goodwill with her.

"To see him actually step up and out and do something that will move the party in a different direction, I was happy to see that," she said.

That was a sentiment echoed throughout the meeting.

"Before this happened I had mixed feelings," Sharon Hawthorne, another local Republican Party member, explained of Gaetz. "I liked some things that he did. I didn't like other things he did. But I love the fact that he took this stand for us."

"And I feel like this is the best thing that could have happened for Republicans, for Democrats and for America," Hawthorne said.

Gaetz is no stranger to national media attention, though he often made headlines as more of a troll on Democrats, like when he wore a full gas mask on the floor of the House during the height of the COVID-19 pandemic and Democrats' public health measures.

Gaetz also led an attempted breach on the secure facility where impeachment proceedings took place against former president Donald Trump during his first impeachment.

That changed at the beginning of the 118th Congress when Gaetz stood in opposition to Kevin McCarthy in his initial bid for the speakership. Ultimately, McCarthy stood through 15 rounds of voting before receiving enough votes to become speaker. Gaetz did not vote for him once.

An ally and supporter of Trump's, Gaetz firmly aligned himself with the former president during his time in office and has remained by his side since.

According to Adam Cayton, a political scientist at the University of West Florida, that style of politics plays well in today's GOP.

"[Gaetz is] combative, bombastic, conservative, doesn't shy away from very public conflict," Cayton explained. "So, he's tapping into the same strain of feeling that is propelling Donald Trump to the leadership of the Republican party."

In this Oct. 2019, file photo President Donald Trump, right, accompanied by Rep. Matt Gaetz, R-Fla., left, arrive for Game 5 of the World Series baseball game between the Houston Astros and the Washington Nationals at Nationals Park in Washington. Andrew Harnik/AP hide caption

In this Oct. 2019, file photo President Donald Trump, right, accompanied by Rep. Matt Gaetz, R-Fla., left, arrive for Game 5 of the World Series baseball game between the Houston Astros and the Washington Nationals at Nationals Park in Washington.

Still, back home, Gaetz's constituents who cheered on his actions aren't sure it will actually pay off for him - or for them.

"It might be a risk for him. I'm glad he did it. In my view, the more Congress doesn't do anything, the better off Americans are," Patty Burke said. She's been local in GOP politics for more than 20 years and has followed Gaetz's career.

But, she's worried the Republican Party might now be seen as a party in disarray. Another Republican at the Santa Rosa County meeting, George Oedsma is less worried about his own party and more worried about the control Democrats still have in Washington.

"Republicans over many, many years, we're always told we have to compromise. But whenever we do, we get nothing and they get everything they want," Oedsma said. "It just seems like that over and over and over again."

As for whether Gaetz's actions will pay off?

"Ask me in a year from now and I might be able to tell you," he said.

Gaetz did not take McCarthy down with the intent of taking the job. He has made it clear that he has no interest in being speaker. It is unlikely he would have the votes to take the job as the polarizing figure in his party that he has become.

The House will need to choose its new leader before it can do any additional legislative business. But even with the 45-day continuing resolution to give Congress more time to fund the government, a potential shutdown is again, just around the corner.

Gaetz is unlikely to waver from his position on a conservative approach to funding the government. The first congressional district in Florida has more federal employees than any other district in the state and is home to a number of military installations, accounting for even more federal spending.

For retired Marine Stan Jandura, also attending the Santa Rosa County Republican Party meeting, that should not even be a consideration. He supports Gaetz's tactics on government spending and on ousting McCarthy.

"It's a colloquial term shutdown. It's not a real shutdown," Jandura said. "Government employees are still going to get their check once it opens back up. So, who does it hurt? It hurts the political party that is up there."

As for what Gaetz might do with his newfound notoriety, he is unlikely to face opposition at home in his heavily-Republican district, nor will he likely face a primary challenger as a moderate Republican would probably not fare as well.

There has been speculation that Gaetz might be eyeing the governor's mansion in Tallahassee, Fla., though he has said he has "no plans" to run for governor. Still, that election would not be until 2026 and there is precedent for a Gaetz-like candidate performing well statewide.

"It's worth remembering that our recent Governor was a Tea Party affiliated rightwing Republican with an anti-establishment brand," Adam Cayton, the political scientist at the University of West Florida said, speaking of current Gov. Ron DeSantis, a former three-term congressman.

For now, though, Gaetz seems laser focused on changing Congress. Because as he tweeted recently, "I know who I work for, and it's not the people in Washington D.C."

"It is the Americans who elected me to change Congress for the better," Gaetz said.

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Matt Gaetz ousted Speaker Kevin McCarthy and his voters in Florida ... - NPR

As a co-founder of the conservative House Freedom Caucus, Representative Jim Jordan, Republican of Ohio, once antagonized his partys leadership so mercilessly that former Speaker John A. Boehner, whom he helped chase from his position, branded him a legislative terrorist.

Less than a decade later, Mr. Jordan a fast-talking Republican often seen sans jacket, known for his hard-line stances and aggressive tactics is now one of two leading candidates to claim the very speakership whose occupants he once tormented.

Mr. Jordans journey from the fringe of Republican politics to its epicenter on Capitol Hill is a testament to how sharply his party has veered to the right in recent years, and how thoroughly it has adopted his pugilistic style.

Those forces played a pivotal role in the downfall of former Speaker Kevin McCarthy this past week, though Mr. Jordan, once a thorn in his side, had since allied himself with Mr. McCarthy, a California Republican. Now, the same dynamics have placed Mr. Jordan in contention for the post that is second in line to the presidency, a notion that is mind-blowing to many establishment Republicans who have tracked his career.

That notion that he could go from legislative terrorist to speaker of the House is just insane, said Mike Ricci, a former aide to both Mr. Boehner and Speaker Paul D. Ryan, Republican of Wisconsin. Jordan is an outsider, but hes very much done the work of an insider to get to this moment. Keeping that balance is what will determine whether he will win, and what kind of speaker he will be.

The race between Mr. Jordan, a populist who questions federal law enforcement and Americas funding of overseas wars, and Representative Steve Scalise, a staunch conservative and the No. 2 House Republican from Louisiana, continued to heat up on Friday. Both men worked the phones relentlessly seeking support, including making calls with freshman lawmakers, the Congressional Western Caucus and the Main Street Caucus, a group of business-oriented Republicans.

On Friday, as they were vying for support, a bloc of Republicans were quietly requesting a change to party rules that would raise the vote threshold for nominating a candidate for speaker, which would make it more difficult for Mr. Scalise to prevail.

While Mr. Scalise is amassing dozens of commitments of support, so is Mr. Jordan, which could lead to a bitter and potentially prolonged battle when Republicans meet behind closed doors this coming week to choose their nominee or spill into public disarray on the House floor.

On Saturday, a third possible contender, Representative Kevin Hern of Oklahoma, said he would not run and urged his Republican colleagues to unify behind either Mr. Scalise or Mr. Jordan.

Mr. Jordans rise in Congress to a position where he can credibly challenge Mr. Scalise, who has served in leadership for years, stems from a number of important alliances he has formed over the years. His strongest base of power is his colleagues in the House Freedom Caucus, many of whom consider him a mentor. He has built a solid relationship with Mr. McCarthy, for whom Mr. Jordan proved a reliable supporter and important validator on the right. And he has forged close ties with former President Donald J. Trump, perhaps his most important ally.

In a Republican House that has defined itself in large part by its determination to protect Mr. Trump and attack President Biden, Mr. Jordan has been a leader of both efforts. He leads a special subcommittee on the weaponization of government against conservatives. He has started investigations into federal and state prosecutors who indicted Mr. Trump, and he is a co-leader of the impeachment inquiry into Mr. Biden that Mr. McCarthy formally announced last month as he worked to appease the right and cling to his post. The weaponization subcommittee has spotlighted some examples of government overreach and the impeachment inquiry has produced unflattering information against President Bidens son Hunter, but neither has produced proof of Republicans boldest claims.

Mr. Trump endorsed Mr. Jordan for the top House job early on Friday, ending speculation, however unrealistic, that the former president might seek the job himself. (A speaker is not required to be an elected lawmaker.)

Congressman Jim Jordan has been a STAR long before making his very successful journey to Washington, D.C., Mr. Trump wrote in a post on his social media platform, Truth Social. He will be a GREAT Speaker of the House, & has my Complete & Total Endorsement!

Mr. Trumps endorsement could help Mr. Jordan garner support from his other fellow House Republicans, among whom Mr. Trump is popular. But it is not expected to seal a victory.

Representative Warren Davidson, an Ohio Republican who is the whip of the House Freedom Caucus and a supporter of Mr. Jordan, said Mr. Trumps endorsement was a positive for Mr. Jordan because Trump is widely viewed as the leader of our party.

But, he said, some more mainstream Republicans arent thrilled about aligning themselves with Mr. Trump.

There are some folks in moderate districts that are like, Well, that might actually complicate things for me, Mr. Davidson said.

Mr. Jordan helped undermine faith in the 2020 presidential election results as Mr. Trump spread the lie that the election had been stolen through widespread fraud. Mr. Jordan strategized with Mr. Trump about how to use Congresss official count of electoral votes on Jan. 6, 2021, to reject the results, voting to object even after a mob of Mr. Trumps supporters attacked the Capitol. His candidacy for speaker has drawn a stark warning from former Representative Liz Cheney of Wyoming, who was the No. 3 Republican and vice chair of the Jan. 6 committee, who said that if he prevailed, there would no longer be any possible way to argue that a group of elected Republicans could be counted on to defend the Constitution.

In a speech at the University of Minnesota on Wednesday, Ms. Cheney told the audience that Jim Jordan was involved, was part of the conspiracy in which Donald Trump was engaged as he attempted to overturn the election.

Mr. Jordan has defended his actions in challenging the results of the 2020 election, saying he had a duty to object given the way some states changed voting procedures during the coronavirus pandemic.

His quick rise in the Republican ranks was nearly derailed in 2018, when a sexual abuse scandal in Ohio State Universitys athletics program came to light, leading to accusations that Mr. Jordan, who had been an assistant wrestling coach at the time, knew about the abuse and did nothing. Mr. Jordan has said that he was not aware of any wrongdoing.

On Capitol Hill, Mr. Jordan initially worked to build some relationships with Democrats early in his career. He and Representative Jamie Raskin, Democrat of Maryland, once teamed up on bipartisan legislation to protect press freedom. He counts former Representative Dennis Kucinich, a Democrat from Ohio who is now running Robert F. Kennedy Jr.s presidential campaign, as a friend. Even as Mr. Jordan and Representative Elijah Cummings, the Maryland Democrat who died in 2019, sparred over investigations of Mr. Trump, the two men occasionally found common ground on other Oversight Committee issues.

But as Mr. Jordan formed an alliance with Mr. Trump and then became one of his most vocal defenders on Capitol Hill, his relationships with Democrats disintegrated. When Mr. Raskin introduced his press freedom bill this year, Mr. Jordan was no longer listed as a sponsor.

Representative Jim Banks, Republican of Indiana, said that Mr. Jordans true power lay in the love he commands from base voters, built up through years of defending Mr. Trump and advocating conservative policies on Fox News and in combative congressional hearings. Mr. Jordan is known to fly to districts around the country to help raise money for candidates who are aligned with the House Freedom Caucus and even for Republicans who are not.

Mr. Banks suggested that Mr. Jordans credibility with the right could make it easier for the party to unify behind any spending deal he were to cut with Democrats and the White House should he become speaker. Such a deal would be a tall order. Mr. Jordan voted a week ago against a measure to avoid a government shutdown an agreement with Democrats that ultimately drove Mr. McCarthy from the speakership.

Jim Jordan is a trusted conservative; hes well-respected by the base of the Republican Party, Mr. Banks said. So when we get to some of these tough spending fights and Speaker Jim Jordan is negotiating with the White House and the Senate, thats going to help Republicans rally behind him and get to a place where they can vote for those deals.

This is a different Republican Party today than what it was a decade ago, he added. And the Republican Party today is a lot more like Jim Jordan. Its more of a fighting Republican Party.

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From the Fringe to the Center of the G.O.P., Jordan Remains a Hard ... - The New York Times

Consider method first: For its operation, the Constitutions design presumes legislators who prize national interest over what James Madison called factious, local interest. Madison thought that national elections would refine and enlarge the quality of national representations in comparison to their local peers. To us, this seems optimistic at best. But politicians are not just the sum of the structural forces acting on them (gerrymandering, dark money, etc.). They have agency, and can make choices. Those on the hard right who precipitated McCarthys fall demonstrated an unblinking zealotry and contempt for their colleagues within and beyond the party in ways that exemplify the spirit Madison repudiated. It is a spirit, as McCarthy himself acknowledged in his resignation speech, sharply at odds with the Constitutions design.

And what of aims? The Framers conducted a Revolution in favor of government, to quote the historian Max Edling. They built a government that would work. While the outer contours of federal power have long been contested, the core aim of the Constitution to create a working state to meet the international and economic challenges of the day was never in doubt. Advocates of the hard-right project today deeply misunderstand the Framers here. In effect, they ignore the first four aims listed in the Constitution in favor of an emphasis on Liberty (for the select, right-thinking few, at least). Such selectivity is, in its own way, another profound repudiation of the Constitutions core.

Bill Scher is a contributing writer to Politico Magazine, the politics editor for the Washington Monthly and co-host of The DMZ, an online show and podcast with conservative writer Matt Lewis.

The problem is too many people think American politics is more broken than it is in reality.

In the past three years, broad coalitions have formed to invest in infrastructure, enhance gun safety, support semiconductor manufacturing, aid Ukraine and even shore up the finances of the United States Postal Service.

When Republicans took over the House and far-right nihilists agitated for an economically devastating default on the federal governments debt obligations, a robust bipartisan majority embraced the budget deal that averted a crisis. Just last week, despite lingering disagreements about spending levels, border security and Ukraine, a similar bipartisan coalition made sure the federal government would not shut down.

And yet, a small number of Republican ideologues and gadflies refused to accept that now-former Speaker Kevin McCarthy had restrained spending as much as politically possible. Meanwhile, as they watched McCarthy strain to maintain Republican unity, House Democrats did not trust him to stick with the spending levels set in the debt limit deal, or continue to keep the government open. The speakers chair is vacant because of the mistrust and misaligned expectations of these two groups.

Finding common ground in an evenly divided country will always be challenging. But leaders in both parties have been picking their spots and finding pathways to success. American politics wasnt broken. Until Tuesday.

Norman Ornstein is an emeritus scholar at the American Enterprise Institute.

It has been clear for some years that what is broken in American politics is the Republican Party. The roots go back for decades starting with Newt Gingrichs arrival in the House in 1979. But the current chaos was triggered, ironically, by the self-proclaimed Young Guns Paul Ryan, Eric Cantor and Kevin McCarthy when they went around the country in 2009 recruiting tea party radicals, exploiting their anger after the financial collapse and the backlash against Barack Obama, promising to blow up the establishment in Washington with the hopes that they could use that anger to catapult themselves into the majority. Their expectation was that once these tea party radicals were in the House, they could co-opt them. Instead, of course, they were co-opted. John Boehner was the first victim of the Young Guns, but now all three of the Guns have been shot down by their own gang. Cantor lost his seat to a tea party radical; Ryan suffered the same fate as speaker as John Boehner, forced to leave by the radical right. And now McCarthy, the last one standing, has been taken out by the same forces in an even more dramatic manner.

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'What Is Broken in American Politics Is the Republican Party' - POLITICO