Notes from the Middleground

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Notes from the Middleground
How to Think About the Republican Madness
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Eyes on the Right

How to Think About the Republican Madness

It's an expression of the revolutionary populism that now permeates the GOP from top to bottom

Damon Linker's avatar
Damon Linker
Oct 06, 2023
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How to Think About the Republican Madness
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Rep. Matt Gaetz (R-FL) answers questions outside the U.S. Capitol after successfully leading a vote to remove Rep. Kevin McCarthy (R-CA) from the office of Speaker of the House October 3, 2023 in Washington, DC. (Photo by Win McNamee/Getty Images)

I said a few days ago that I’d have an “Above the Fray” culture post for you today, but I can’t resist writing about the Republican mess this week, which is, of course, my main beat here. So I’ll turn to culture on another day.

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Sometimes it’s important to stand back for a moment to remind ourselves of where we are.

This week, for the first time in history, a Speaker of the House has been removed from his leadership post—and by members of his own party. It was an act of rebellion by Florida Rep. Matt Gaetz, the leader of what might be the most tactically radical faction of the GOP in Congress against the infinitesimally less radical Rep. Kevin McCarthy of California. Which alternative member of the Republican caucus might be able to win enough votes to replace McCarthy is anyone’s guess.

In the race for the Republican presidential nomination, meanwhile, the man leading by 45 points has been in court, embroiled in a civil fraud trial and posting social-media attacks on the judge and his principal law clerk that have resulted in the judge issuing a limited gag order against the defendant and candidate. This trial, which could well end in the dissolution of the frontrunner’s business empire, will be followed by at least four others covering 91 felony counts for alleged crimes ranging from document fraud to mishandling of classified documents to conspiring to overturn an election.

In addition to leading the field of Republican candidates by a mile, the latest head-to-head polls show this candidate with a slight lead over the sitting president of the opposing party, who is running for re-election.

Shocking? I suppose. But I have to say, the tumult in Congress, at least, reminds me of numerous past events, most of which I lived through, even if I didn’t grasp the significance of them fully at the time.

Now I can.

The Pre-History of the Populist Present

The fact is that for a very long time—longer than I’ve been alive—the Republican Party has been motivated by the drive to tap into and mobilize populist energy bubbling up from the “grassroots” and then ride it to power. Populism in this sense is a revolutionary impulse—a drive to rise up in rage-filled rebellion against entrenched, established powers, allies against enemies, us against them.

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