By the time this posts the fight will probably be over. Most observers expect McCarthy to win. Having seen the results from today’s (Wednesday, January 4) fifth round, I’m not so sure.

Regardless, the battle marks a turning point for the Republicans. I’m coming to share the view that the leadership sold out the base during the midterms. That is probably proving to be a huge mistake. The Republican party sold out the Tea Party and tried to ditch the MAGA base but they didn’t get all of the candidates that that base supported. And now the base has had quite enough and those representatives are acting accordingly.

I think that’s what Gaetz and the others are tapping into. Kevin McCarthy is about as popular with the base as his namesake is with historians. The age of the Republican base putting up with being ignored by the party leadership is over.

I know, many even solidly conservative commentators are more worried that the fight makes Republicans look bad. They are still attached to Reagan’s adage ‘Never speak ill of your fellow Republicans’. Reagan might have had a point back in the 1980’s but most of you don’t even remember Watergate – I only barely do. Just because you needed glue for one job doesn’t mean you can only ever use glue for every job. Reagan was speaking to a time when the Republicans needed glue. I think now they need a very big hammer.

The Republicans and the Democrats both need to remember that We the People aren’t on their teams. Their teams serve the people or they will be replaced. This is nothing new in American politics. I’ve talked about it before, this is just a party system shift. All either party can do right now is minimize just how big that shift is going to be.

But they can’t do that selling out their base. Democrats are finding that out with both soccer moms and immigrants. Republicans are getting a large dose of that reality with the current fight over the speakership. As of this writing McCarthy has lost two more votes – and at least one Republican stopped voting for McCarthy and started voting ‘present’. This despite Trump’s support of McCarthy.

The base loves Trump but they don’t agree with everything he says. That’s actually good – it’s the sign of a healthy base. If you agree with every word a leader says no matter what those words actually are, you’re not a follower, you’re a sycophant. A healthy base should be made up of likeminded people who think independently.

In this case, a good bit of the Republican base disagrees with Trump and rejects McCarthy. That’s exactly how it should be – no one human being gets everything right. Heck, no group of human beings will get everything right, either. A robust, healthy system allows the two to conflict without violence and without either side caving just to ‘get along’.

It’s more important to get it right than to get along. It’s important to be able to disagree because that’s how we figure out which answer is the best. Sure, we have to know when to pick our battles and we are just as sure to get that wrong sometimes, but giving in to get along just means the noisiest wins – since when is the squeaky wheel the best wheel?

Those who fear that the conflict will destroy the party don’t realize that Gaetz is probably saving the Republican party. The base is still feeling the burn from both the midterms and the re-election of McConnell as Senate majority leader. Having at least nineteen Republicans standing up for values of the base is more redemption for the Republican party than the current leadership can hope to earn. If they pull it off – if they defeat McCarthy – the Republican party might just reinvigorate its base.

If not, Gaetz and company will have won a reprieve for conservative Republicans to prove themselves to their base and to the American people. Either way, the party is in better stead for having had an old fashioned floor fight than it was coming into the new year.

Political representatives aren’t elected to go along with their parties. They are elected to represent their constituents. This battle is the first sign in a few decades that there are Republicans who are really ready to fight for those they represent.

That alone is a massive improvement.

Update: 1/5/23 McCarthy has now lost ELEVEN votes for the Speakership despite support from prominent conservative Republicans including Donald Trump.

I hope Mr. McCarthy takes the hint and steps aside.