Conservative WSJ editorial board: McCarthy ouster shows GOP’s 'degraded state' in an 'era of rage'

During the 2022 midterms, Democrats warned that if Republicans gained control of the U.S. House of Representatives, Congress could expect a lot of chaos in 2023. The GOP obtained a small House majority, and just as Democrats predicted, 2023 has been chaotic in the House.

It took 15 votes for Rep. Kevin McCarthy (R-California) to be confirmed as House speaker in January 2023, and on Tuesday, October 3, McCarthy was ousted from that position after far-right Rep. Matt Gaetz (R-Florida) triggered a "motion to vacate."

In a scathing editorial, the Wall Street Journal's conservative editorial board complains that Republicans who pushed to oust McCarthy underscore the state of "chaos" in their party.

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"A band of eight Republicans succeeded in ousting Kevin McCarthy as House Speaker on Tuesday, and we trust they're happy," the WSJ board laments. "They now have the chaos they wanted, though it isn't clear what else they hope to achieve. Their clever plan seems to be to cut off their own heads."

As Gaetz saw it, McCarthy's cardinal sin was preventing a federal government shutdown by working with Democrats.

"Mr. McCarthy lost his job, but he rose in our esteem in recent days by the way he has handled this threatened coup," the WSJ board argues. "He put the country first on Saturday in refusing to let the plotters shut down the government for no good purpose."

The board adds that the movement to oust McCarthy as speaker "captures the degraded state of the Republican Party in this era of rage."

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"Mr. McCarthy said Tuesday night, in classy remarks, that he won't run again," the WSJ board writes. "Other names will surface, but who in the world would want the chair knowing it comes with the constant peril of being ousted?.... Meanwhile, the House is essentially frozen. The putative GOP majority is weaker, and its ability to gain any policy victories has been undermined."

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Read the Wall Street Journal's full editorial at this link (subscription required).