Last night, both Nikki Haley and Ron DeSantis spoke at the RNC conference in Milwaukee. DeSantis had a good line about the Biden presidency being “Weekend at Bernie’s,” which Trump evidently enjoyed. Haley gave her own “strong endorsement,” bobbing her head for emphasis. There was much cheering and excitement all around.
Yet for all the smiling and feel-good sentiment, the balloon of Republican unity was momentarily burst with a blast from the party’s not-so-distant past. Kevin McCarthy, the former GOP speaker of the House, was giving an interview to CNN when Representative Matt Gaetz (R., Fla.), who is scheduled to speak later this week, tried to interrupt. “Are you speaking tonight? If you took that stage, you would get booed off of it,” he said. McCarthy, who is not scheduled to speak, shot back: “He’s got an ethics complaint about paying, sleeping with a 17-year-old.”
As Democrats contend with the great “What to Do about Biden” panic and all its ensuing chaos, the relative unity in the Republican Party may be superior PR. But it’s also superficial. On policy, personality, ideology, and the future of conservatism, the GOP remains deeply divided.