Mark Davis: How conservatives came out ahead despite House speaker ‘chaos’ | Opinion

The sacking of House Speaker Kevin McCarthy, an establishment Republican who had pleasantly surprised many conservatives, may have left him and his supporters perplexed that a small minority of objectors would plot his leadership demise. But the question quickly became: Who could satisfy enough Republicans to become McCarthy’s successor?

In the absence of a solid plan for who would replace McCarthy, a spectacle unfolded that saw the failed bid of a worthy tactician in Rep. Steve Scalise of Louisiana and a subsequent failed bid of staunch conservative Rep. Jim Jordan of Ohio. America asked: What do these Republicans want? The party itself asked: Can we get our act together and unify behind anyone?

That answer turned out to be a resounding yes, and the path to Speaker Mike Johnson of Louisiana provides insights into various layers of GOP intrigue.

If Republican reaction to McCarthy’s ouster was objections leavened by a certain purist complaint over broken procedural promises, Democrats’ response was broad satisfaction. Nothing entertains Democrats like Republican infighting, which arises with predictable regularity. But if Republicans did not know precisely where the drama would ultimately lead, Democrats had no clue.

What they had was wishful thinking. McCarthy’s months of surprisingly conservative stances won him fans in his own party but were alarming to liberals longing for the centrist idleness of speakers such as Paul Ryan and John Boehner. Their hope was that a GOP beset by bickering would have to float a compromise candidate who could reach the necessary 217 votes with a combination of Republicans willing to hold their noses and Democrats hoping for a less confounding speaker than McCarthy.

As the old saying goes, be careful what you wish for. GOP conservatives are now celebrating the ascendancy of a kindred spirit, while Democrats are wondering how the supposed “chaos” they mocked so heartily has yielded an even more conservative speaker.

The flashpoint was lit by the 20-25 Republicans who obstructed Jordan, an emphatic conservative who nonetheless counted among his 200 or so supporters some prior supporters of Scalise and some who still resented the boot afforded McCarthy. Some of the naysayers blanched at his style; others saw his skepticism of Ukraine aid as an indicator of struggles ahead for their favored military appropriations. One rationale offered was that while Jordan was a consequential conservative activist, there was doubt about his aptitude with the behind-the-scenes levers of fundraising and recruitment necessary to boost the party’s majority beyond the single digit that made this whole episode possible.

Majority Whip Tom Emmer of Minnesota has those skills in spades, but a lack of conservative credibility would have kept him from 217 even if Donald Trump had not torpedoed his chances with a single burst of social media posts. A field of nine possible replacements was replaced by a field of five. Johnson’s attributes vaulted him to the top.

His conservatism is beyond question, but his style is not caustic. He prioritizes fundraising and party-building, but without the weak-sauce establishment approach that has been cast to the curb in the era of Trump. And he is a communicator of considerable talent, fluent in the policy depths of the economy and immigration as well as the social-issues landscape he traveled with passion as an attorney waging battles over religious liberty.

In this era of shallow analysis, critics who mocked the seeming havoc surrounding the quest for a new speaker are now left to witness the aftermath, featuring a newcomer Republicans may view as better than McCarthy and at least as inspiring as Jordan — a complete package of organizational acumen and fighting spirit that could unite a fractious GOP and leave Democrats wondering how such a debacle hatched a conservative victory.

Mark Davis hosts a morning radio show in Dallas-Fort Worth on 660-AM and at 660amtheanswer.com. Follow him on Twitter: @markdavis.

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