Former US House Speaker Kevin McCarthy (R-CA) arrives at the US Capitol in Washington, DC, on October 5, 2023. (Photo by SAUL LOEB / AFP)

‘Revenge’ time in US politics continues like sequels of a horror movie. So cleaved are they that the Speaker of the US House, Kevin McCarthy, has been sacked. This is a historic first for the US as Republicans took revenge on him for saving the government from a spending authorisation deadline with a group of eight hard right legislators voting with the Democrats to oust a legislator they had named a “feature of the swamp” in the style of the customary language used by Donald Trump.

The Democrats were seeking revenge on McCarthy, who had indeed jumped at an opportunity to help them keep government spending open, for ordering an impeachment inquiry into President Joe Biden. The ouster was orchestrated by Republican Representative Matt Gaetz, spawned by the Donald Trump movement based on anarchy as government when in office and anarchy as aim even when working with a slender majority in the House.

The ousted Speaker, an ambitious legislator, had struck many a compromise to get into the chair, including agreeing on a single member moving a motion seeking to vote him out. The Republicans, ready to shoot themselves in the foot, were gunning for McCarthy for working with the Democrats to temporarily keep the US open for business for 45 days at least while Congress worked to pass the rest of its annual spending bills.

It was irony playing out at its worst as the Republicans refused to allow Gaetz to use any of the microphones they controlled to speak on the motion, and he had to rely on the Democrats to exercise his right in speaking to the House and be heard. Disunity may be an enemy of the Conservative cause, but it was on full display as McCarthy became the shortest serving Speaker since 1876 when an incumbent had died in office.

Temporary Speaker Patrick McHenry will oversee voting on a replacement for McCarthy, a significant task as the US heads to its November 2024 polls that are just about a year away, even as a mid-November shutdown is on the cards. A greater cause for worry is partisan politics is hitting a new low in the US.