Will the Republican establishment connect the dots between the Donald Trump phenomenon and Rep. Kevin McCarthy’s (R-Ca.) failure to step-up to the speakership? (That’s a rhetorical question.)
We asserted a few weeks ago that Donald Trump would not be the Republican presidential front-runner were it not for Jeb Bush. (Nor would the delightful “cuckservative” meme have emerged without Trump on the scene.)
Now Trumpism can add McCarthy’s political obituary to those of Scott Walker and Rick Perry, and eventually of Jeb Bush*, to its resume. McCarthy was undone thanks to the emboldened House Freedom Caucus, which has been fueled alongside Trump’s disruption of the Republican landscape. Trump continues to give cover to the dissident, hope to the disaffected, and an outlet to the angry.
McCarthy and his ilk—most Republicans in Congress, actually—made it easy for Trump by basically ignoring the voters’ ire about immigration that was a major reason for their victory in the 2014 mid-terms. Were it not for Trump, there would be little movement to punish Republicans for ignoring the issue and allowing President Obama to implement amnesty by executive action after the elections.
* Hopefully, anyway. We do not rule out the possibility of the Republican establishment using whatever dirty tricks it can muster from its formidable arsenal to steal the nomination from Trump at the convention, against the will of the majority of delegates elected through primaries and caucuses.
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