McCarthy’s Riot Inside the Capitol

McCarthy
McCarthy spent the summer building bridges with the MAGA caucus. Photo: Kent Nishimura/LA Times/Getty Images
Tina Nguyen
November 2, 2022

With less than a week until the midterms, Washington’s starched collar Republicans are preparing for the likelihood that their next House majority will be another chaotic affair. The ultra-conservative Freedom Caucus is now outflanked by an even more anti-establishment wing of the party, personified by the likes of Marjorie Taylor Greene, Lauren Boebert, Matt Gaetz and Paul Gosar. And this anti-Squad will almost certainly expand next week with the potential addition of new, even Trumpier candidates: Joe Kent, who has campaigned on a “Stop the Steal” platform; J.R. Majewski, who attended the January 6th rally; Cory Mills, a riot control weapons salesman who joked about tear-gassing the media; Anna Paulina Luna, who previously appeared on a QAnon program; and on and on. Quite a crew for the presumptive next Speaker of the House, Kevin McCarthy, to keep in line.