Congressional Republicans are trapped in a dangerous absurdity of their own making | Sidney Blumenthal

By abasing himself to Trump and the most hardline Republicans, Kevin McCarthy made himself a political hostage

The House Republicans have triggered a Chernobyl of their own, a chain reaction that will inexorably lead to a meltdown to their core surrounded by a radioactive forbidden zone. Saboteurs rush in unobstructed, setting blazes and planting explosives. The nominal fire chief stands dumbfounded, an observer transfixed at the raging conflagration, anxious about his escape route. This is a whole new concept of individuals that just want to burn the whole place down," the fire chief fumes. Then, smoke billowing behind him, he flees the scene and tells everyone to go home for a week.

The speaker of the House, Kevin McCarthy, is the speaker in name. He has the part. He will do anything to retain the honorific. Gesture by gesture he dispenses with the powers of his office for the sake of wearing its polished badge. If nature abhors a vacuum, his unnatural enemies thrive in it. He agreed to their demand that instead of proposing a continuing resolution for 30 days to continue negotiations on the budget he would divide appropriations into 14 separate bills, each requiring a procedural vote to be able to consider them. Twice he dutifully brought to the floor the procedural votes for the defense appropriations bill, and twice they were contemptuously rejected. His heedless appeasement was a defeat foretold. The federal government shutdown looms.