I admit that I've been something of a monomaniac this week, but the struggle for control of the Republican conference in the House of Representatives is absolutely fascinating to me, since it exposes the wide rifts within the party right now. I realize there's a brutal war being fought in Israel, but I have long shied away from commenting on that particular situation (because I feel I really don't have much of anything to add on the subject). And in domestic politics here at home, there's really only one thing going on: utter chaos in the speakerless House.

For House Republicans, 2023 is the year Festivus came early. It's hard not to conclude this, after yet another session of what can only be called "the airing of the grievances." Upon exiting today's GOP-only closed-doors meeting, here's what one of them had to say:

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Representative and current Majority Leader Steve Scalise has won his party's nomination for the job of speaker of the House of Representatives. He won a secret ballot held within his own caucus by the not-very-impressive margin of 113-99. But instead of the entire House immediately convening to hold a vote for the speaker's chair, they instead immediately went into recess. Nobody knows when such a vote will be held, meaning the chaos will continue for the time being.

[Editorial note: We had read an earlier report that it would have taken a two-thirds vote within the Republican Caucus to win the nomination, which was simply not true (as Scalise's bare majority shows). We regret repeating this error in previous columns. Mea culpa.]

The battle between Scalise and the other contender, Representative Jim Jordan, was pretty fierce and included Donald Trump endorsing Jordan as well as reports that Kevin McCarthy was privately peeved at Scalise for not doing more to help him save his own speakership -- but even with all that, Scalise emerged victorious.

Jordan, in an incredible display of party unity (which was rather surprising, for him), then privately met with Scalise and reportedly offered to not only throw his support behind Scalise but also to be the one to give him his nominating speech on the floor. This might go a long way towards convincing all of Jordan's supporters to also shift their support to Scalise. But Scalise can only lose four votes from his fellow Republicans -- if five or more vote for someone else, we may see multiple speaker votes the same way we did in January. This time, however, it appears that the wheeling and dealing for votes might happen behind the scenes. If the House stays in recess until the Republicans can put together an actual majority for Scalise, then we won't have to endure vote after vote on the House floor. We may have to wait awhile for that floor vote to happen, however.

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Republicans in the House of Representatives remain in disarray. That's probably not too surprising to anyone, since dysfunction is kind of their "brand" these days. But after the past few days, this is a lot more concerning to a lot more people. We should know, within the next two days or so, whether this is going to be a major impediment to American government or just another bump in the GOP's rocky road.

What has made it all more real is a new war raging in Israel. All of a sudden the fact that one house of Congress is paralyzed isn't a matter of: "Oh, just don't visit the National Parks during the shutdown, everything else will be fine," but rather of not being able to provide American military aid when it is needed. The consequences are far more dire, obviously.

The military aid isn't even the point, really. It is more that America cannot speak politically with one voice even when it is sorely needed on the world's stage. Instead of looking to us for leadership, people in other countries now look and see paralysis. Republicans used to care about stuff like this -- and this week will be a test of whether they still do or not.

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Robert F. Kennedy Junior announced today that he is dropping out of the Democratic Party's primary race and will instead mount an independent bid for the White House. Both Republicans and Democrats are already worrying over how this will affect the race next year, since third-party bids can often act as spoilers. But next year, depending on what state you live in, you may have not just three but instead four, five, or perhaps even more names on the presidential ballot.

Last week, Cornel West also announced an independent bid for the presidency, after flirting with an attempt to be the Green Party's nominee. And the group No Labels has tens of millions of dollars in the bank which they are going to use to get their party on the ballot in as many states as they can, although they don't really have a candidate or even any sort of concrete political agenda at this point. Politicians such as Senator Joe Manchin and Utah's Jon Huntsman are reportedly considering vying for the No Labels nomination. And then there will also be the eventual nominees of both the Green and Libertarian Parties as well. So there should be numerous "third parties" for many voters to choose from.

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We've finally gotten to the point where even the headline-writers in the mainstream media had to admit the reality -- which runs 180 degrees counter to their propensity to magnify every little squabble among Democrats -- and finally write a few: "Republicans In Disarray" headlines. Because this was the week it became unavoidable. The Republican civil war broke out into the open in a big way, as they made history by deposing a speaker of the House of Representatives for the first time ever. From this point forward, we will be referring to just Representative Kevin McCarthy, since that's all he now is. And maybe not even that, if the rumors he's thinking about stepping down entirely turn out to be true.

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There are plenty of things I could be writing about today, not least among them the horrifying and completely laughable notion of making Donald Trump speaker of the House, but I decided to focus in on the "laughable" part instead. Because I, for one, am immensely pleased that late-night comedy shows are back on the air every night (and, starting this weekend, on Saturday night as well).

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Chaos still reigns in the House of Representatives, and will continue to do so for at least another week. After deposing their own speaker -- for the first time in American history -- the Republicans decided to celebrate by doing what they do best: go on vacation for a week. You couldn't make this stuff up if you tried, folks.

The speaker pro tempore (Latin for: "for the time being") who is attempting to lead the Republican Party through the chaos announced this, even though the clock is now ticking on the next impending government shutdown. But Republicans have never cared as much about actual governance as they do about whatever their next circus act is going to be.

Kevin McCarthy surprised many by announcing that he wouldn't be in the running to take back his old job, which set off a frenzy among his fellow Republicans, many of whom have now already thrown their hats into the ring. My reaction to all this was: "Who would want the job?!?" Seriously -- it seems like a one-way ticket to political irrelevance. Beginning with Newt Gingrich's ignominious exit from the chair way back in the 1990s, every single Republican who has held the speaker's job has either been forced to resign by unruly elements within their own ranks or actually forced out (now that McCarthy made history): Dennis Hastert, John Boehner, Paul Ryan, and now Kevin McCarthy. A one-way ticket to political oblivion seems almost guaranteed with the job, for Republicans.

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We are now officially in uncharted waters. The speaker of the House of Representatives has been deposed. The Chaos Caucus of hardline rightwing Republicans won the day, with the help of the entire Democratic Party. Kevin McCarthy is speaker no more.

This is all unprecedented and, as a result, historic. Nobody's even entirely sure what the next steps will be. From the New York Times liveblog of the vote, immediately after McCarthy lost:

"Now what?" one Republican loudly asks. This has never happened in the House of Representatives before.

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There are a lot of momentous things going on in the political world this week -- including Donald Trump sitting inside a courtroom facing a lawsuit -- but what is going on in the House of Representatives right now somehow seems more important than watching this particular episode of "The Trump Show." Because we may see a move this week that hasn't been made in over 110 years, and (win or lose) it is going to shift the power structure in the House from this point on in some way or another, even if nobody's got a clue which direction it will shift in.

The "motion to vacate the chair" (or as some have now dubbed it: the "M.T.V.") has only been used once in the House's existence. It was created by and first used against Speaker Joseph Cannon, in 1910 (he's now got a House office building named after him, since he was a very powerful and historic speaker). The situation at the time wasn't a perfect parallel to what's going on now, but there were indeed similarities.

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Welcome back once again to the Shutdown Follies! Today's entertainment will be provided by the House Republicans, who will all be driving clown cars in a demolition derby, for your enjoyment.

That's what it feels like, at any rate. Speaker Kevin McCarthy (R-Jellyfish) is caught in a vortex of political posturing, from which there is no apparent escape. No escape for the country, as we all get sucked into a completely pointless government shutdown in its wake, and no escape for Kevin McCarthy, whose only way out is to commit political hara-kiri (or, if you prefer, seppuku). The "Chaos Caucus" of MAGA lunatics is in full control of the House now, and they are content to head the ship of state at full speed directly into a gigantic (and eminently avoidable) iceberg. And there's nothing anyone can do but sit back and watch the disaster unfold, it seems.

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