There was an awful lot of (fake) hand-wringing on the Sunday shows this weekend about the “chaos” in the House caused by Matt Gaetz’s successful coup in ousting Majority Speaker Kevin McCarthy. What’s even more despicable (predictably so) was the attempt to tie this alleged Republican chaos to the horrific attacks against Israel this holiday weekend by asking guests whether this (non-existent) chaos would hamstring Congress’s ability to act.

Never really in search of an answer, the questions were actually designed to make the point that House Republican incompetence and infighting jeopardize the United States’ ability to respond to international crises. More on that in a sec.

But the reality is that the House can do little short of resolutions in support of Israel and making funds available for aid, as these matters are mostly within the purview of the Executive. American Thinker readers understand this. The average Democrat does not or doesn’t care. After all, it’s about the propaganda. Throw it out there enough times, and gullible voters will believe it and vote on it. Remember Harry Reid’s knowingly false accusation that Mitt Romney failed to pay his taxes for ten years?

Lies strategically placed pack a prodigious punch.

Unrelated to Israel, whether you agree with Gaetz’s orchestration of the motion to vacate, it didn’t create any real chaos other than in the minds of the left and among RINOs. Nor is there any lingering chaos wreaking havoc on the ability of Washington to function.

Image: Nancy Pelosi. YouTube screen grab.

Admittedly, it was a bit gnarly when it first happened, a bit of a shock to most, but House Republicans recovered quickly by choosing experienced congressman Patrick McHenry as interim speaker and securing two excellent candidates to run for the speakership. And, so far, there is no discernible pushback against the candidates from among the House Republicans.

Even before the attack on Israel, I fully expected the vote for a new speaker to go quickly because, while it’s true that House Republicans can be colossally daft at times, there are plenty who are savvy enough to know to get this off the table fast and out of the press yesterday to mitigate any damage caused by the ouster, and to let the People see them get back to work pronto.

All talk of chaos is Democrat-Media Complex disinformation and NeverTrumper-Establishment wishful thinking. By the time the elections come around, the entire fiasco will be in the rearview mirror, and its only relevance will be whether anything changed as a result, whether it was worth doing, and, going forward, what lessons can be learned.  

While the barbaric attacks in Israel and the potential for this to radiate beyond the borders of the Land of Milk and Honey will likely provide Republicans with additional incentive to resolve the speakership matter, my guess is we’ll have a new speaker long before week’s end.

In some ways, resolving this neatly and expeditiously is probably more important than the expulsion itself—and not just because of what’s happened in Israel over the weekend. Nancy Pelosi is laughing all the way to the voting booth. She wanted this, she facilitated it, and she plans to use it as proof of Republican ineptitude in running the House.

My gut is that the woman who coined the phrase “Culture of Corruption” that won her the speakership in 2006 is primed for a “Culture of Chaos” campaign against the Republicans in 2024. It’s our job to see that she doesn’t have any more fuel to throw on that fire.