The Chaos Isn't An Anomaly. It's The GOP's Governing Ideology.
The Chaos Isn't An Anomaly. It's The GOP's Governing Ideology.
The past two weeks give us a preview of our future if Republicans gain more power in 2024. Their calculated chaos is a tactic.
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The past two weeks have been some of the most chaotic in government since the Trump Administration. Once again, it’s due to Republican dysfunction. But there is a method to the madness that has engulfed the GOP.
Chaos is a tool that is used by those who want to disrupt government as we know it. It’s exploited by those who want to achieve, as former Trump Chief Strategist Steve Bannon infamously put it, “The deconstruction of the administrative state.” This chaos is not an anomaly - this is the GOP’s governing ideology.
This week, for the first time in American history, the Speaker of the House was removed from office. Kevin McCarthy (R-CA) was ousted by an extremist faction of just eight Republicans led by Rep. Matt Gaetz (R-FL). Gaetz exploited the House rule change that McCarthy conceded when seeking the speakership, allowing a single member to initiate a motion to vacate.
McCarthy’s ousting came after he spent his speakership capitulating to the extremists within his caucus. But you can never appease extremists, a lesson he learned the hard way. This was the culmination of the Republican Party’s empowerment of radicals over decades, from Newt Gingrich to the Tea Party movement to the rise of Trumpism. Establishment Republicans thought they could control this increasingly extremist faction of the GOP, but now they’re the ones being controlled. They own the chaos we’re seeing.
Last week, there was the baseless Biden impeachment inquiry where even Republican witnesses admitted there was no evidence connecting President Biden to corrupt conduct. Over the next 48 hours, the government was on the brink of a pointless shutdown before a continuing resolution without Ukraine funding was passed and signed at the 11th hour. Within the next 72 hours, McCarthy was ousted as Speaker.
Republicans have forced the House into a state of stagnation. There are only around 40 days left before another potential government shutdown, and now we have to deal with a Speaker race. We must be clear, though, that this didn’t happen by accident. It was part of an intentional strategy to sow government dysfunction.
One of the architects of McCarthy’s ousting was a familiar chaos agent. There’s a reason I quoted him at the beginning of this piece. The New York Times provided new reporting that details the extent to which Steve Bannon was involved in the planning and execution of McCarthy’s ouster:
For weeks, Mr. Bannon has been strategizing with Mr. Gaetz on the bid to take down Mr. McCarthy, offering himself up as a sounding board as Mr. Gaetz plotted his moves.
On Wednesday, the very next morning after the ousting, Matt Gaetz and Rep. Nancy Mace (R-SC) appeared on Steve Bannon’s “War Room” podcast. They touted the ousting of McCarthy. Bannon relished in the chaos they unleashed. The New York Times quoted Bannon saying something that gives the game away:
“You create a firestorm now that totally changes things. People right now think government is a benefit. I’m going to show government spending as cootie-infested.”
Republican lawmakers create chaos, blame the Democrats for it, and then tell voters they’re the only ones who can fix it. We saw that with the shutdown and the Speaker fight.
Republicans falsely claimed Democrats were to blame for the shutdown risk in spite of the fact more Democrats voted for the continuing resolution than Republicans. Republicans also falsely blamed Democrats for ousting McCarthy in spite of the fact it was due to divisions within their own caucus.
Just today, RNC Chairwoman Ronna McDaniel said of the Democrats: “We’re common sense, they’re chaos and pro-criminal.” McDaniel says this after Republicans just threw the House into chaos and with a GOP frontrunner currently out on bond facing 91 criminal charges across four indictments. Pure projection.
They know their attacks are dishonest, but they do this in an effort to shift media narratives in their favor. They think that a press plagued with an obsession with false balance will facilitate GOP propaganda. In other words, as Bannon calls it, they “flood the zone with shit.”
It’s a power play. Authoritarians have historically been known to create chaos, project that chaos onto their political opponents, and then claim that they need to be given more power in order to fix it.
From the tumultuous periods leading up to major revolutions to authoritarian regimes worldwide, chaos has often been weaponized to destabilize, distract, and ultimately seize control. By sowing discord and confusion, leaders can position themselves as the 'saviors' or the 'stabilizing force,' even if they were the architects of the chaos in the first place.
If Republicans are given the power they seek in the upcoming election and do what they’ve promised to do, the damage they could bring to America could rival the authoritarians we’ve seen abroad.
A Preview Of Post-2024 MAGA America
The GOP's recent actions, especially the ousting of McCarthy, signal a party in turmoil, prioritizing short-term political gains over long-term stability. If Republicans win the Senate and presidency in 2024, we could see an escalation in these tactics, leading to more dysfunction and an erosion of democratic norms.
These tactics are about more than just political theater, though; it has real-world implications. From education to healthcare to infrastructure, the inability to govern effectively can hinder essential programs, affecting millions of Americans.
Today's GOP champions chaos as a means to disrupt and dismantle. I don’t make this claim lightly, and it’s not simply based on my own observations. Republican candidates for president in 2024 are openly admitting this is their plan.
After McCarthy was ousted, GOP presidential candidate Vivek Ramaswamy said the quiet part out loud in a video he posted on X:
“Yes, ‘chaos’ was the point. But that’s not necessarily a bad thing,” the video was entitled. Ramaswamy opens the clip by arguing that Republicans should embrace chaos to disrupt the “status quo” and then repeatedly asks, “Is a little chaos really such a bad thing?”
Near the end of the video, he asks a more functional question: “What’s the plan to shut down the unconstitutional administrative state?” The only thing that would make that video more disturbing was if Ramaswamy was wearing Joker makeup.
I wrote about this effort to dismantle the “administrative state” in my debate coverage last week. While Ramaswamy is the one primarily using the exact Bannon terminology for it, in essence, other Republican candidates are pushing for the same thing. Donald Trump, former President Mike Pence, Vivek Ramaswamy, and Florida Governor Ron DeSantis all said they would shut down the Department of Education if they become president.
Donald Trump has gone even further, claiming he wants to defund the FBI and DOJ. That is, of course, in response to his criminal indictments. Ramaswamy also wants to dismantle the FBI and the IRS. Ramaswamy has repeatedly advocated the dismantling of government as we know it.
Trump has also been making increasingly disturbing claims, promising retaliation against his political opponents, suggesting that General Mark Milley deserves execution, and other authoritarian promises.
This chaotic, authoritarian thinking has clearly been catching on among other candidates and the congressional Republicans who sought a government shutdown.
Their approach isn’t the kind of small government ideology that classic conservatives claim to espouse. It’s an embrace of chaotic, ineffective, and authoritarian government. It's anarchism in a suit and tie. It’s arson masquerading as coherent policy. The party's willingness to embrace such tactics, even at the cost of its credibility, underscores a troubling, decades-long shift.
The consequences domestically are clear, but they also have international ramifications. This kind of ongoing chaos raises concerns about America's position as a global leader. Allies and adversaries alike are watching closely, with some questioning the U.S.'s reliability as a partner. In a world where stability and predictability are prized, the GOP's embrace of chaos could have far-reaching implications for international relations.
Americans should be very concerned. Don’t take my word for it. Take the word of other Republicans.
Brendan Buck, who once served as Press Secretary to House Speaker John Boehner and Counselor to House Speaker Paul Ryan, succinctly described the Republican Party’s current governing style on MSNBC this week:
“We are not, right now, fit for governing. We are a party much more made for being in the minority. We like to vote against things… [House Republicans] problem is not really with the Speaker of the House… These guys just don’t like the realities of governing. There are some things you have to do when you’re in the majority, like keep the government open…”
Even Fox and Friends host Steve Doocy admitted to the reality of the GOP’s ineffective governing style:
“After the Republicans worked so hard to finally get a slim majority in the House of Representatives, total chaos. And now to a lot of the country they're looking in, 'Hey the Republicans finally got the chance to drive the car, they're in a ditch.’”
Republicans are telling us exactly how they plan to govern. We should believe them and vote accordingly.