Earlier today, I asked what it would say about Donald Trump’s standing in the Republican if the 20 or so Republicans who are refusing to back Kevin McCarthy for Speaker of the House “— or a large portion of them — maintain their opposition, despite Trump’s entreaties?”
“In my estimation,” I wrote:
such a development would harm Trump in two ways. First, it would show that Trump-sycophants such as Matt Gaetz are no longer willing to do what their hero demands — even if, as a general matter, they express support for him. Second, it would put Trump on the side of the “establishment” (which he is!) against the rebels.
Well, that’s what just happened. The fourth round of voting yielded 201 votes for McCarthy, 212 for Jeffries, 20 for Donalds, and one present. Or, put another way: Donald Trump’s intervention failed to flip a single vote. Indeed, because one of the Republican votes that had previously gone McCarthy’s way was switched to “present” in the fourth round, McCarthy actually received one fewer vote than he had before Trump demanded that the dissenters fall into line.
It ain’t 2016 any more.