The GOP's problem caucus


Rep. Madison Cawthorn (R-N.C.) is enmeshed in yet another scandal, a series of controversies that run the gamut from insider trading to lingerie wearing. Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene (R-Ga.) mused about Satan's alleged control of the Roman Catholic Church.
Call them the GOP's problem caucus. A handful of congressional Republicans persistently draw outsized media coverage and cause headaches for House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy (R-Calif.), who will be asked to answer for Greene's theological disquisitions and Cawthorn's legal or sartorial choices.
It won't be a problem in the midterm elections. Republicans are likely to win in spite of them, and they themselves are heavily favored to win reelection. But they will become a bigger problem if there is a Republican majority next year, and they will get even more attention as Democrats elevate them in an effort to make Donald Trump look like Edmund Burke by comparison.
The Week
Escape your echo chamber. Get the facts behind the news, plus analysis from multiple perspectives.

Sign up for The Week's Free Newsletters
From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.
From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.
Leadership has little recourse against these problem children. You can strip them of their committee assignments (or in Greene's case, keep them off committees) and hope their constituents decide they don't have enough juice in Washington to do the job. But it's not clear that these lawmakers have much interest in committee work or legislation. In fact, this just frees them up to make more trouble.
Party leaders can also try to starve them of funding sources. But these members of Congress have high profiles and national fundraising bases from which they can draw. The bigger bucks may not be available to them, but the small donors could sustain them.
Depending on the size of the Republican majority, in fact, McCarthy may need their votes for speaker more than they need anything from leadership.
This has been a time-honored tradition for troubled Democratic presidents too: lose the midterm elections but then run against the "extreme" Republican Congress. It helped Barack Obama and Bill Clinton get reelected. Could it work for President Biden as well? No matter who wields the gavel, they will make Madison Cawthorn seem like the speaker of the House.
A free daily email with the biggest news stories of the day – and the best features from TheWeek.com
If McCarthy and company don't have a plan for dealing with the MTGs in their conference, they had better develop one — fast.
W. James Antle III is the politics editor of the Washington Examiner, the former editor of The American Conservative, and author of Devouring Freedom: Can Big Government Ever Be Stopped?.
-
Why ‘anti-Islam’ bikers are guarding Gaza aid sites
In The Spotlight Members of Infidels MC, who regard themselves as modern Crusaders, among private security guards at Gaza Humanitarian Foundation sites
-
China: Xi seeks to fill America’s void
Feature Trump’s tariffs are pushing nations eastward as Xi Jinping focuses on strengthening ties with global leaders
-
Rebrands: Bringing back the War Department
Feature Trump revives the Department of Defense’s former name
-
Graphic videos of Charlie Kirk’s death renew debate over online censorship
Talking Points Social media ‘promises unfiltered access, but without guarantees of truth and without protection from harm’
-
Why does Donald Trump keep showing up at major sporting events?
Today's Big Question Trump has appeared at the Super Bowl, the Daytona 500 and other events
-
Trump's drug war is now a real shooting war
Talking Points The Venezuela boat strike was 'not a mere law enforcement action'
-
Truck drivers are questioning the Trump administration's English mandate
Talking Points Some have praised the rules, others are concerned they could lead to profiling
-
Gavin Newsom's Trump-style trolling roils critics while thrilling fans
TALKING POINTS The California governor has turned his X account into a cutting parody of Trump's digital cadence, angering Fox News conservatives
-
Texas OKs gerrymander sought by Trump
Speed Read The House approved a new congressional map aimed at flipping Democratic-held seats to Republican control
-
Costco is at the center of an abortion debate
Talking Points The decision to no longer stock the abortion pill came following a pressure campaign by conservatives
-
The census: Why Trump wants a new one
Feature Donald Trump is pushing for a 'Trumpified census' that excludes undocumented immigrants