On Tuesday, 210 House Republicans voted to keep Kevin McCarthy as their leader; eight voted against him. That means that 96.3 percent supported McCarthy, and 3.7 percent opposed him.
When Donald Trump opposed the certification of Joe Biden’s electoral votes in Pennsylvania on January 6, 2021, 138 House Republicans (68.4 percent) voted with him, and 64 House Republicans (31.7 percent) voted against him. Forty-four Senate Republicans (86.3 percent) voted against Trump’s objections, while seven Senate Republicans (13.7 percent) voted with him.
When Trump was impeached the second time, 43 Senate Republicans (86 percent) voted to acquit him, while seven Senate Republicans (14 percent) voted to convict him.
It’s an illustration of how the procedural rules set how we think about narratives. More House Republicans stood with McCarthy than the number of House or Senate Republicans who stood with Trump in any of those votes. And yet, because it led to his removal, the talk is all about how McCarthy lost to the Republican base and how the vote allowed some sort of grassroots rebellion — by 3.7 percent of the caucus.