John Boehner didn't want it.

Paul Ryan and Trey Gowdy don't want it either. And now Kevin McCarthy, Boehner's presumed successor as speaker of the House, one of the most powerful positions in U.S. government, has dropped out of consideration as well. Nobody has any idea of what happens next. It's utter chaos.

If nothing else, this exposes the inanity of the claim that Barack Obama has been the cause of the divisiveness that has paralyzed Washington for so long. House Republicans constitute the most ideologically homogenous caucus in congressional history, running the entire gamut from far right to very right, and they can't get along with each other well enough to perform the basic task of picking and backing their own leader. They reject the very notion of leadership, compromise or anything else needed to make a government operational.

What a damn circus. Or kindergarten. Or circular firing squad.

Or a circular firing squad of kindergarteners. At a circus.

With no one to clean up after the elephants.

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Inventor Lonnie Johnson stands with his Super Soaker water guns at JTEC Energy on Wednesday, Oct. 29, 2025, in Atlanta. Johnson, a former NASA engineer, is currently working on a new energy technology through his company’s JTEC device that turns thermal heat into usable energy. (Natrice Miller/AJC)