ANALYSIS — Rep. Patrick T. McHenry raised his right arm high in the air Tuesday afternoon and delivered his first gavel slam as speaker pro tempore so fiercely the block of wood he struck and his signature bow tie both shook.
So, too, did the Republican caucus as it careened from procedural chaos to rhetorical combat, from mistrust to mayhem.
Out was Rep. Kevin McCarthy, the California Republican who tried for nearly nine months to manage a caucus one member described Tuesday as a “powder keg” by time and again trying to placate the conservative bloc, led by Florida GOP Rep. Matt Gaetz, that ultimately joined with Democrats to push him out.
