Kevin McCarthy is as responsible as anyone for his own downfall | Andrew Gawthorpe

Congressional Republicans were deliberately radicalized - and McCarthy, whatever he may say, played a key role

This week, Kevin McCarthy became the first Speaker of the House of Representatives in history to be voted out of office. It was a fitting end to his speakership, one in which McCarthy had served only at the pleasure of a nihilistic bloc of far-right Republicans. It was little wonder, then, that he seemed almost jolly as he announced at a press conference that he didn't intend to run for the office again.

Far more galling was the former speaker's attempt at the same event to present himself, in contrast to those who ousted him, as some sort of force for moderation and reasonableness. The truth is that McCarthy has been at the cutting edge of his party's descent into madness, encouraging its worst instincts and indulging its most destructive personalities. People sometimes say that the congressional Republican party has become ungovernable". It's more accurate to say that it has been deliberately radicalized - and that Kevin McCarthy played a key role in that process.

Andrew Gawthorpe is a historian of the United States at Leiden University and the creator of America Explained, a podcast and newsletter