A nightmare of Kevin McCarthy’s own making

Rep. McCarthy has allowed a cabal of extremists to gain control by consistently caving to their demands.

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Editorials

January 5, 2023 - 4:22 PM

Rep. Kevin McCarthy (R-CA) on Wednesday, Jan. 4, 2023 in Washington, DC. On Thursday afternoon, McCarthy's 10th attempt to become speaker failed. (Kent Nishimura / Los Angeles Times)

The tumult in Congress over choosing the next House speaker goes far beyond the radical right’s distrust of Rep. Kevin McCarthy. For all the controversy the far right has generated in recent years, its leaders have correctly identified McCarthy as a chameleon who would promise anything to get the speaker’s job. In Washington politics, that’s hardly new or noteworthy.

But the radicals and McCarthy have made a fundamental miscalculation about what Americans want to see out of this Congress, and therein lies the conundrum that the rest of the House must try to solve…

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