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Kevin McCarthy’s as-yet fruitless attempt to become the GOP Speaker of the House is a once-in-a-century shitshow. The last time the House failed to elect a Speaker on a single vote was in 1923.
McCarthy’s humiliation is historic but not out of line with the Republican Party, whose turbulent reign over the House of Representatives has been marred by crisis, coup attempts and crime since the 1990s.
The “Republican Revolution” of 1994 ended 40 years of Democratic control of the House of Representatives. But it has created a party whose ideological hostility to government regularly spills over into open hostility to governance — as reflected in countless shutdowns and destructive high-stakes games of chicken with the full faith and credit of the United States government line.
Viewed through this lens, the drama surrounding McCarthy is not much of an aberration; rather, it’s normal for a party that’s been screwing around and finding out since 1994. Below is a look back at the GOP’s culture of chaos in the House since the party’s return from the Cinton-era political wilderness.
Mandate: Gingrich served as Speaker from 1995 to 1999 during a tumultuous administration marked by two government shutdowns (lasting a total of nearly a month), dozens of ethics complaints, an attempted leadership coup by fellow Republicans, and a party-line impeachment vote against Bill Clinton for lying about sexual infidelity — even as Gingrich himself was cheating on his then-second wife with his now-third wife.
Output: The polarizing one Gingrich expected the Clinton impeachment drama to lift the GOP to new heights in the House. Instead, Republicans suffered historic losses in the 1998 midterm elections, and Gingrich—unable to overcome divisions in his ranks—resigned, insisting, “I don’t want to preside over people who are cannibals.”
Where is he now: Trying to act as the voice of reason, it’s like he’s not sowing the wind. “The choice,” he told Fox News this week, “is Kevin McCarthy or chaos.”
Bob Livingston
Mandate: Livingston was Gingrich’s successor and had marshalled the votes to be elected Speaker in late 1998. But Livingston’s administration was sunk before it began after a cheater publisher Larry Flynt offered a $1 million reward for tips on GOP leaders having sex outside of marriage.
Output: Livingston, who had called for Clinton’s resignation, dropped his bid for the presidency and soon resigned from Congress in 1999, after admitting to colleagues, “I’m very sorry to tell you that I was flint.”
Where are they now: After an unsuccessful run for governor of Louisiana, he founded the Livingston Group, a major DC lobbying shop.
Dennis Hastert
Mandate: The tough former wrestling coach took over after Gingrich and Livingston failed. Hastert offered a seemingly bland face for the GOP’s hard-line politics — even though he was widely seen as a figurehead, with Majority Leader Tom Delay (see below) wielding real power. In a polarizing move, the Speaker introduced the “Hastert Rule,” under which legislation would advance in the House only if supported by a majority of the majority party, preventing bipartisan deal-making.
Output: The longest-serving GOP speaker, Hastert resigned from the House after Democrats won the chamber in 2006.
Where are they now: Hastert is a convicted child molester; he served more than a year in prison for serially sexually abusing boys on his wrestling team. Hastert also pleaded guilty to financial crimes related to the secret money he paid to try to keep the sexual abuse secret.
Tom Delay
Mandate: Known as “The Hammer,” DeLay was considered too partisan to become speaker, but he acted as a true center of power in the Republican House during the Hastert era, serving first as whip and, since 2002, as majority leader. DeLay started the K-Street project, helping turn the GOP House into a service organization for lobbying interests, culminating in the Jack Abramoff corruption scandal.
Output: In 2005, DeLay was accused of campaign money laundering and left Congress a year later. He was convicted of the charges in 2011, but was ultimately acquitted on appeal.
Where are they now: In his post-political life, Delay competed Dancing with the stars and founded a lobby shop.
John Bonner
Mandate: An architect with Gingrich of the 1994 Revolution, Boehner was one of the conspirators who tried to oust Newt just three years later. Linked with lobbyists, Boehner infamously handed out checks from Big Tobacco to his colleagues on the floor. Amid the fallout from the delay scandal, Boehner became majority leader in 2006 after promising reform — specifically an end to pork-barrel spending in individual areas known as earmarks. The tilt toward good government was bad for governance, however, because the radicals elected in the 2010 Tea Party wave had little incentive to be nice to leaders in order to get money for favorite projects. That left Boehner’s presidency, from 2011 to 2015, rocked by far-right rebels from the Freedom faction who placed ideological purity above legislative achievement.
Output: Boehner was finally ousted by members of the Freedom Caucus, led by Ohio Rep. Jim Jordan, in 2015 after a series of battles in which Boehner thwarted agents of chaos determined to defund the government. Boehner ally Peter King called it a “victory for the crazy.”
Where are they now: After leaving office, Bonner joined the board of Reynolds tobacco and is now a cannabis lobbyist. He was last seen breaking down in tears in a speech praising outgoing Democratic Party Speaker Nancy Pelosi.
Paul Ryan
Mandate: Ryan was the House budget secretary who became a leading figure in the Republican Party when he was chosen by Mitt Romney to run for vice president in the 2012 election. Ryan was reluctant to take over the chairmanship from Boehner, but he emerged as the only candidate for unity in the fragmented assembly. With a deal from the Freedom Caucus to end opposition to party-line votes essential to passing legislation, Ryan sparked a row with House Republicans at the start of the Trump era by securing huge tax cuts for the wealthiest corporations.
Output: In a normal party, Ryan would still be in office, taking the chairman’s gavel passed to Pelosi in 2018. But Ryan left the job — and Congress — in 2018 at the age of 48, correctly diagnosing that his political brand politics had little future in the populist MAGA era.
Where are they now: Upon leaving Congress, Ryan jumped into business with Murdoch, taking a seat on the board of the Fox Corporation. He is also Vice Chairman of Teneo, a global consulting firm.
Kevin McCarthy
Mandate: McCarthy became House Whip after the 2010 Tea Party election and jumped to the majority leadership post in 2014 when Eric Cantor left after a shock primary loss to the GOP in 2014. When Boehner was ousted, McCarthy was next in line , but withdrew from consideration after a gaffe (admitting that the Benghazi investigation was spun to hurt Hillary Clinton’s poll results) and rumors of personal improprieties. McCarthy then insisted the party needed a “fresh face” and admitted, “I’m not that guy.” But after leading the GOP in a minority following Ryan’s withdrawal and through the chaos of Jan. 6, McCarthy easily won the GOP nomination for the presidency last year. He declared himself Speaker-elect and even moved into the Speaker’s Office this week – despite failing to muster the necessary votes from long-time detractors in the Freedom Caucus
Output: To be determined.
Where are they now: McCarthy can be found on the House floor grinning and suffering serial and historic humiliation after losing 11 votes (so far) for his desired chairmanship.
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