The Fight for the Soul of the Republican Party
House Speaker John Boehner's departure and the fight to succeed him echo the battle that's being fought for the Republican Party's presidential nomination.
House Speaker John Boehner arrives for a news conference in Washington on Nov. 6, 2014.
Photographer: Andrew Harrer/BloombergThis article is for subscribers only.
Nothing reveals the difficulty of holding the Republican Party together more starkly than John Boehner's mood when he announced he was no longer going to try. At his press conference Friday confirming his resignation, the soon-to-be former speaker of the U.S. House of Representatives smiled, laughed, and even sang a few bars of “Zip-a-Dee-Doo-Dah.”
As he exits, the battle for the soul of the party continues—in Congress and also on the campaign trail, where the same anti-establishment forces that sent Boehner packing have led to the ascendency of Donald Trump, Ben Carson, and Carly Fiorina.