Kevin McCarthy's predictably troubled speakership

The Republican is stuck amid intra-party squabbles that his own speakership bid helped enable

Kevin McCarthy
(Image credit: Photo by Drew Angerer/Getty Images)

When Kevin McCarthy (R-Calif.) finally secured his historically embattled bid to become Speaker of the House this winter, it was the belabored result of a Faustian bargain between himself and the furthest-right wing of his party, to whom McCarthy offered a suite of deep political concessions.

Now, three months into his speakership, McCarthy is reportedly in the midst of discovering what many observers predicted when he assumed the speaker's gavel: that by bargaining away major parts of his sought-after authority in order to lead a slim Republican majority, McCarthy has created a significant impediment to his party's ability to govern that could, ultimately, threaten the position he fought so hard to attain in the first place.

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Rafi Schwartz, The Week US

Rafi Schwartz has worked as a politics writer at The Week since 2022, where he covers elections, Congress and the White House. He was previously a contributing writer with Mic focusing largely on politics, a senior writer with Splinter News, a staff writer for Fusion's news lab, and the managing editor of Heeb Magazine, a Jewish life and culture publication. Rafi's work has appeared in Rolling Stone, GOOD and The Forward, among others.