The Government Shutdown Is a Cartoonishly Bad—but Still Terrifying—Sequel

The latest congressional villains are the GOP ’s hard-right nihilists, but their motives for sabotaging the government make no sense.

As the House GOP majority careens into performative chaos as the fiscal deadline of September 30 approaches, it becomes harder to divine just what the endgame will be.

McCarthy himself confessed as much late last week , when he told a reporter, “I had a plan for this week . It didn’t turn out exactly as I had planned”.

Last week also saw the failure of a continuing resolution for defense spending.

The failure bodes ill for Ukrainian President Voldymyr Zelensky , who is scheduled to address Congress this week .

Zelizer: The triumph of procedural nihilism only ensures that things will get worse.