by Doyle McManusJohn A. Boehner lasted five years as House speaker before he ran out of patience with his party’s hardline Freedom Caucus. “They don’t get to say they’re conservative because they’re angry and they’re chaotic.”See a pattern? Ever since the tea party movement of 2010 elected a wave of anti-establishment conservatives, House Republicans have not merely been divided, but downright dysfunctional. Even in the deeply partisan House, where conservative Republicans share little common ground with liberal Democrats, a bipartisan majority wanted to avoid a government shutdown. Every speaker in living memory has been elected by the majority party.

Source: Los Angeles Times October 11, 2023 03:20 UTC