Trump is Publicly Indifferent to post-shutdown MAGA Civil War

After weeks of risky brinkmanship and unnecessary posturing, Republican Speaker of the House Kevin McCarthy at last relented and agreed to a continuing resolution which would keep the government funded at its current spending levels for another 45 days.

The bill passed the House with bipartisan support (though noticeably more from Democrats than Republicans), passed the Senate, and was signed into law by the President just in time to avoid a disastrous government shutdown.

Though the CR kicks the can down the road and we’ll presumably face another unnecessary funding fight in 45 days, it was an unambiguous success for President Biden and the Democrats and a decisive defeat for MAGA Republicans and Donald Trump (who wanted to defund the government to hurt Biden politically or to undermine the DOJ’s prosecutions of Trump).

It was also an abject humiliation for McCarthy, who put himself in unwinnable situation, made false promises to MAGA Republicans in a desperate bid to keep his position, and was forced to (at least for the next 45 days) honor a deal he’d previously made—and betrayed—with President Biden back in May.

In response, Congressman Matt Gaetz of Florida—a combative Trump loyalist—has introduced a formal motion to remove McCarthy from the Speakership. At the time of writing, the motion has not concluded.

But when asked about this development during a campaign stop in Iowa, Donald Trump was indifferent and noncommittal. He refused to offer public support to Gaetz against McCarthy or McCarthy against Gaetz.

Both McCarthy and Gaetz have, to one extent or another, debased themselves over the past two years to earn Trump’s favor and patronage. Gaetz’s deranged loyalty has never wavered and though McCarthy initially signaled his rejection of Trump after the January 6th insurrection, he soon lost his nerve and went back to Mar-A-Lago to plead forgiveness.

And so Trump’s outward indifference to the conflict between them is utterly instructive. He cares not for either pawn beyond their immediate usefulness to him and the only reward for their irrational loyalty to Trump is to be ignored and discarded the moment it’s convenient for him.

If powerful, experienced politicians like Kevin McCarthy and Matt Gaetz haven’t learned this yet, how long will it take for the rest of MAGA?