Faces build. Heels destroy.
House Republicans did not elect a Speaker yesterday.
The Freedom Caucus is the Heel in this drama.
I have written multiple times describing American politics as a version of professional wrestling characters.
There is the "good guy," called the Face in professional wrestling. He is the protagonist and fans like him. He represents order. He fights fair, which creates vulnerability. He might turn his back to his opponent as he waves to the crowd. Meanwhile opponent is grabbing a folding chair to hit him in the back of the head.
The antagonist, called the Heel, represents disorder. He does what it takes to win. As one sports fan wrote me, "If you aren't cheating you aren't really trying." Fans also like the Heel, because he is such a flagrant, flamboyant bad-boy rule breaker. Little boys love knocking down a stacked pile of blocks.
Presidential primaries in America traditionally nominate two Faces to square off, two good-guy heroes. POW-hero McCain vs. idealist Obama in 2008. Mormon straight-arrow Romney vs. still-idealist Obama in 2012. In 2016 the pattern changed. Democrats nominated Hillary Clinton, a Face, while the GOP nominated the guy who won the GOP nomination by being a charismatic Heel. He was Shiva, the Destroyer, in the Hindu trinity. He would drain the swamp, end NATO, fire career bureaucrats.
Traditionally, in American legislative bodies, both parties presented themselves as Faces. That script changed after the 2010 election when Tea Party populists formed the House Freedom Caucus. They made Speaker John Boehner's life miserable, and then Speaker Paul Ryan's. They were unreasonable because they were playing a different game. They weren't pretending to be Faces, people trying to govern. They were OK with shutting down the government. They were OK with the U.S. defaulting on its debt. Now they are OK with a president rejecting election results. Their speeches criticizing McCarthy have a "burn it all down" quality. They want the swamp drained, and McCarthy and most fellow Republicans are part of the swamp. The notoriously conservative Wall Street Journal described it in an editorial yesterday:
But the GOP chaos caucus didn’t want to take yes for an answer. A few Republicans revel in making messes, including Rep. Matt Gaetz. According to Mr. McCarthy, Mr. Gaetz declared that he didn’t care if Mr. Jeffries ended up elected as a Democratic Speaker of a Republican House. This kind of peacock politics doesn’t serve Mr. Gaetz’s Florida constituents.
House Members like Marjorie Taylor Green and Matt Gaetz are outspoken and charismatic. They are stars on Fox and elsewhere on conservative media. They don't need money from the GOP nor from McCarthy. They get it in small dollars from on-line mail campaigns sent to the GOP base.
Kevin McCarthy is in a jam. The House Speakership is a job for a Face. The Speaker is a builder who creates and sustains a coalition of 218 votes. This isn't show business; it is governing a nation. McCarthy needs Heels to get to 218.
This morning McCarthy got help from Donald Trump. Trump told fellow Heels in the House to "TAKE THE VICTORY." The House majority will be Faces but the Heels will have some--maybe a great deal--of influence. "Kevin McCarthy will do a good job, and maybe even a GREAT JOB."
McCarthy is desperate to take the deal. If the deal closes, the House won't act primarily as a governing body. A builder is teamed with destroyers. The new House will make trouble. The people who fly Trump flags will be thrilled, but a majority of voters are sick of the drama. McCarthy know this, but he is stuck.