and the humiliation that s come with that here in front of the whole nation. tonight we begin with how we got here, because everyone s been absorbing the days of chaos, headlines about the failure of the republican majority to get its work start in the its new congress. a story that really goes beyond politics and it s reaching people who don t always follow the swearing in or the speaker s race. if you approach this with fresh eyes as many americans have, saying what s going on over there? you may wonder why the big chaotic fight continues with rolling losses for republicans. why is it happening at the finish line of a win for the gop in the midterms? and why is the big fight in washington within one party, not between one of the typically warring factions between parties? there are many factors but three reasons loom large. first a crop of republicans who are more focused on hijacking than running. second, this trump internet industrial complex that puts the content, the tr
lost to a rookie in a primary. there was the much vaunted paul ryan who found his speakership hobbled by the same extreme wing to the point it was barely worth holding the job. he resigned after just two year, a faster exit than boehner. political lesson to these content driven hostage takers is to emulate the basically supposed monsters who win frankenstein leading so even more mini frankensteins. that s how the boston globe put it today. a bunch of mini frankensteins. you take it all together here tonight as mccarthy lives through his tenth public drubbing. i ll tell you, this is one of those times where both things are true. this is about right now and the extremism that s gotten to this pitch and its efficacy and mccarthy s apparent inability to deal with it or have any plan b and go, let s do it again night after night.
against mccarthy tonight. again, a smaller number than the margin boehner had. but mccarthy looks weaker because the gop is so much weaker now. they blew their touted red wave with a historically terrible showing in nochl we remember watching kornacki at the board. there wasn t any wave, a fizzle of extreme candidates and political malpractice. they usually buck trends that fave the opposition party. that fizzle is the reason why mccarthy is going through his living hell of groundhog day this week. at times that historical context may have gotten lost. boehner would have been stopped with exactly this kind of thin margin. so if you re looking at this and saying, mccarthy is so much worse at doing this than boehner that s a math thing, not a leadership thing. now, boehner s opponents ultimately did oust him, and his successors, if you remember, fared even worse. there was a member of his leadership team, eric kanter who
want? what happens in you say to the hostage taker, why did you take the hostage? what can we give you to redeem the hostage? and the hostage taker says, i like having hostages? i like hostages. that s my thing. quote, unquote, as frum puts it. mccarthy has been in the position three days running, ten votes in, ten big defeats. the tenth being officialized in the last few moments where he doesn t feel he can offer them much of anything if that s their position. then the content. take republican matt gaetz who s been leading this from the start as a performance he s used trump internet tactics against mccarthy and trump himself. building on trends that have been brewing over a decade and riding a mediaaway where viral followings can overrule even, say, fox news. that s a contrast that s been on