McCarthy struggles to get GOP’s unruly kids in line for speaker vote

In an interview with Fox News’ Sean Hannity on Tuesday, though, McCarthy soberly alluded to the stakes if fellow GOPers don’t fall in line: a Democratic House speaker.

“I believe we’ll get to 218,” he said. “Why? ’Cause if we don’t, none of those investigations go forward, none of the work that we have put before us. We can’t start investigating [Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro] Mayorkas, we can’t secure the border, we can’t lower the gasoline price by making us energy-independent.”

He continued: “We can’t [hold the government] accountable, we can’t pass a parents’ bill of rights. All of that will stop. The subpoenas can’t move out until you elect a speaker."

Setting aside for a moment that the GOP’s investigative agenda is motivated by conspiracy theories — and that dubious claim about lowering gas prices — this was McCarthy in angry parent mode. It was like seeing him crane his neck to the children in the back seat and snap at them, “If you don’t do what I say, this car is turning around and going back to where we came from!”

That is, a place without subpoena power.

The threat of a Democrat’s becoming House speaker may be enough to whip enough Republicans back under McCarthy’s control. That’s yet to be determined. But it’s just as likely that McCarthy’s failure to keep GOP extremists in line means he has “raised” a crop of House Republicans too rambunctious for their own good.