If you turn up the base too high, you will blow out your speaker

The best part of this House Majority Leader Speaker circus (going to its seventh vote as I write this) is how the dispute among the Republicans is about absolutely nothing. There is no issue that Kevin McCarthy can commit to for the votes of the "Never Kevins" in his caucus. They have made no specific demands for their support. They just want McCarthy's scalp. Why? Because they have a general sense that McCarthy wasn't good enough, notwithstanding his endless efforts to appease the very faction that is now opposing him. They don't even have a specific beef with McCarthy. But they have a big vague one, that is, frankly, completely inscrutable to outsiders.

But they can't be appeased, because their votes aren't about position or policy. They are just motivated by vengeance against whoever they have labeled as their enemies. They are just treating Kevin like they treat the Democrats. They live in a world where they can be for Trump's "infrastructure plan" (whenever he got around to unveiling it), but also against Biden's infrastructure bill, even though the bill just sought to codify a lot of the stuff that Trump has been talking about doing. The details don't matter, its about who is their guy and who is the enemy. Biden is, by definition, the enemy, so whatever he proposes must, not only be opposed, but any Republican who dares to vote for it is a traitor who must also be destroyed. Policy doesn't matter, all that matters is who is an enemy. Now that McCarthy is on their enemies list, there is no way off without giving the Freedom Caucus radicals their scalp.

In short, this whole debacle is a really good example about how the core of the GOP, the faction that, while not a majority, is the one that calls the party's shots, is completely unfit to govern. This is nothing but an ongoing demonstration of Republican disfunction, and why it should never be in power again.

Thanks for the show, Never Kevins. I'm not sure how many people are really paying attention to this, but the longer it drags on, the more attention it will get. And it is a show that he American public really needs to see.