Kevin McCarthy’s First Test

Washington Post: “For McCarthy, 53, the hour-long confrontation with King was a critical moment early in his tenure as the new leader of Republicans in the House, testing whether the easygoing Californian was willing to take on a popular conservative and assert himself in the wake of sweeping GOP defeats in the 2018 elections and the high-profile speakership of Rep. Paul D. Ryan (R-WI).”

“It was also a reminder of how Republican leaders have done little to police their ranks on the charged issue of race in recent years, from their embrace of Trump despite him casting doubt on President Barack Obama’s U.S. citizenship to their support of the divisive King — making his punishment an outlier rather than the standard.”