These scholars view McCarthy ouster as a warning that American 'democracy is in trouble'

United States Rep. Kevin McCarthy (R-California) will go down in U.S. history as the first House speaker to be ousted from that position because of a member of his own party. On Tuesday, October 3, far-right Rep. Matt Gaetz (R-Florida) triggered a "motion to vacate," and eight House Republicans joined Democrats in voting to oust McCarthy as speaker.

In an article published by the Washington Post the following day, journalist Sarah Ellison reports that some "historians and political scientists" view the vote as a "warning sign for the health of American democracy."

Daniel Ziblatt, a professor of government at Harvard University in Cambridge, Massachusetts, told the Post, "If you want to know what it looks like when democracy is in trouble, this is what it looks like. It should set off alarm bells that something is not right."

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According to Ziblatt, the Republican Party's lunatic fringe was able to affect an entire institution in the federal government.

Laura Blessing, a senior fellow at Georgetown University's Government Affairs Institute in Washington, D.C., told the Post, "We are watching a very small number of folks from the House Republican conference have an outsize role in promoting a lot of congressional dysfunction and fiscal dysfunction. This is a move for volatility and not a move to pass legislation."

READ MORE:Historic first: McCarthy ousted as Speaker as GOP vows vengeance against Matt Gaetz

The Washington Post's full report is available at this link (subscription required).