But math is not to blame. Given the GOP’s slim majority in the House, this deal is tricky but not impossible: You could lose five Republicans (depending on absentees or abstentions, that number could be higher) and still become speaker. McCarthy’s nomination was held up for 15 votes until an agreement was reached.
McCarthy’s deal was instructive, however, as it was rather one power sharing agreement than anything else: in exchange for his support, McCarthy gave Gaetz and a band of like-minded Yahoos a veto over House business. When McCarthy flipped on them to do this business, they got angry and hit the eject button, ending his speakership after just nine months. More than anything else, McCarthy’s crime was trying to pass ordinary legislation, which requires some degree of communication and cooperation with Democrats, two things Republicans are increasingly against. McCarthy only did it twice in nine months, but that was twice too many.
If House Republicans had any real goal beyond obstructing the Biden administration and blocking liberal priorities, we’d probably have a speaker right now. But without a set of tangible and material political goals to unite this party, they are falling apart. This is, in relation, what has empowered Donald Trump, a strongman who has been able to transform a visionless party into a cult of personality using simple carrots (nice tweets) and sticks (bad tweets).
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