Republican Congressman Admits His Party is One of the Biggest Threats in the World

The Republican Party is one of the biggest threats in the world, says one of its own members.

It’s a striking, sobering, and utterly accurate statement.

Michael McCaul, a Republican Congressman from Texas, made the admission when commenting on his party’s persistent dysfunction and inability to elect a new Speaker, preventing the reopening of the House of Representatives. He even went so far as to compare the threat posed by the GOP to the threats facing Israel from Hamas.

As McCaul suggests, this threat ultimately derives from the Republican Party’s utter inability to govern. Legitimate disagreements about policy notwithstanding, it’s simply a fact that the GOP has regressed into an authoritarian cult of personality who can only traffic in culture war nonsense, grievance politics, and fealty to Donald Trump—whatever interest in or talent for responsible governance they once had, they no longer do.

This fact was once again put on embarrassing display on Wednesday, when—after tentatively naming Steve Scalise to be the conference’s Speaker-designate—Republicans reopened the House of Representatives to “get back to work” and to “do the People’s business.”

They shut the House down three minutes later. Literally.

The GOP can’t govern, can’t legislate, can’t even make it five minutes into a Congressional session to appoint a leader.

With that in mind, perhaps those who claim to be “moderate, Main Street” Republicans—or at least those 18 members in districts which voted for President Biden in 2020—should heed the call of Democratic Leader Hakeem Jeffries to unite with him and House Democrats to form a bipartisan coalition government. For what it’s worth, Republican Congressman Don Bacon seems open to the idea.

And if they don’t, perhaps American voters should punish them at the ballot box next year.