McCarthy embodies House GOP's post-Trump dilemma and post-Gingrich history

https://www.npr.org/2022/04/30/ [login to see] /mccarthy-embodies-house-gops-post-trump-dilemma-and-post-gingrich-history
Shakespeare often contemplated how the mighty were fallen in his plays, sharing his observation that "uneasy lies the head that wears a crown."

Something similar seems to apply to the title of Republican leader in the U.S. House of Representatives.

This particular crown's current wearer, Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy, has been embattled of late over tape-recorded remarks he made in the aftermath of the Capitol riot on Jan. 6, 2021 — the one that sent the members of both chambers of Congress fleeing in fear.

The tapes reveal McCarthy sharply dismissing the man those rioters were trying to keep in office, former President Donald Trump. McCarthy had said Trump bore some responsibility for that mayhem in a floor speech after members had returned.

But in these subsequent conversations with other members, he was recorded saying he was "done with this guy" whose actions "no one can defend." He raised the likelihood of impeachment and even mentioned removal of the president under the 25th Amendment to the Constitution.