McCarthy and the Tantrum Caucus

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Hi there, folks. If you’re in Washington, facing the prospect of a government shutdown and waves of furloughs, things probably don’t seem The Best and The Brightest right now. (Or maybe our namesake—David Halberstam’s 1972 book about the policy geniuses who thinkfluenced the nation straight into the Vietnam War—is more fitting than ever.) While we might not be delivering the happiest news to your inbox this evening, we will endeavor to give you a working map of what might be the most scattershot, unfocused government shutdown in recent memory.

But first…

Boebert, Boebert, Boebert: The only potential winner of the looming government shutdown may be Lauren Boebert, whose tawdry vaping-and-groping scandal, during a live production of Beetlejuice: The Musical, has been somewhat overshadowed by...

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McCarthy’s Chaos Caucus

Beneath the façade of a unified opposition to the compromise G.O.P. spending plan, the hardline bloc is really a confederation of “caucuses of one,” as a House Republican insider put it, each with their own individual incentives, which McCarthy could use to break them apart—if they don’t get rid of him first.

TINA NGUYEN

As recently as last week, there appeared to be a hope, however misplaced and however ephemeral, that Kevin McCarthy might avoid a government shutdown. Freedom Caucus leaders, including some of McCarthy’s staunchest critics, came together with Main Street Caucus “pragmatists” to negotiate a 30-day continuing resolution that would keep the money flowing, albeit at reduced levels, and harden the border, among other things. Alas, the bill was dead on arrival, given that Democrats control the Senate and the White House. Worse, the compromise didn’t actually have...

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