Kevin McCarthy, as the next speaker of the House of Representatives, will be a disappointing leader who will demoralize the MAGA majority across the land but bring joy and gladness to the Deep State.

How can this observer be so certain of this dire outcome in the event of McCarthy's accession to the speakership?  By means of the lead editorial in The Wall Street Journal, December 31, "The Trump Tax Return Precedent" — sharply criticizing the action of the House Democrat majority (to end, thanks be to the Almighty, on January 3) in releasing the tax returns of former president Donald J. Trump.

The Journal pointed out, three paragraphs from the end of the editorial:

The release sets a terrible precedent for the treatment of private [emphasis added] information by Congress. The Supreme Court last month declined to block the [House Committee] on Ways and Means seizure of Mr. Trump's tax returns, holding that Congress can define for itself what legislative purposes are suitable to snoop on presidential records.

Let's pause at this point.  The action of the high Court, giving House Democrats license to make public the Trump tax returns, is of a piece with the Court's acceptance of the travesty of the actions taken by the House Democrats (plus two renegade — now former  — GOP members of Congress) to annul legislative order, due process, fairness, common sense, and justice.  The members of the Court have demonstrated that, when it comes to judicial procedure, Donald J. Trump is sui generis — anything goes, because the Court follows, if not precisely the election returns, the diktat from the media that has degraded the term "journalism" into a synonym for false reporting.

Shame on John Roberts and his brethren.  This observer has no doubt that if the GOP had treated Biden with a Jan. 6-type select committee, or made public tax records of Democrats, the Court would act to defend the Constitution from congressional assault tantamount to, yes, "insurrection."

The editorial next warns, "If all it takes is an airy notion about reforming this or that policy, it won't be hard for partisans to justify seizing and releasing anyone's returns."  This observer doubts the editorial prediction on that point, confident that the Deep State Judiciary would never tolerate heavy-handed measures against swampish totalitarians.

So what is to be done?  If House Republicans had a leader committed to justice, due process, fair play, and accountability for rogue conduct, that leader would declare that as first order of business by the House, any and all Democrats responsible for executing a de facto bill of attainder against Mr. Trump will be brought up on charges before the House Ethics Committee, and liable to ouster from the House of Representatives.  Such a strong leader would also bring ethics charges against the members of the Pelosi Inquisition still in Congress, including the former speaker.  And, certainly, a Republican speaker committed to leading a legislative body, not a partisan posse, would encourage GOP committee chairpersons to permit zero tolerance of Democrat deception, deviousness, and disdain for regular legislative order.

Alas, recent reports concerning McCarthy indicate that he is dredging up his promises, late summer and early fall, to act against appointment of 87,000 new IRS agents.  Such empty, irrelevant rhetoric invites leftists' derision.

Is there no Republican in the House born with a spine?  That Republican, if found, should be our next speaker.

Image: Kevin McCarthy.  Credit: World Economic Forum via Flickr, CC BY-NC-SA 2.0.