Capitol Theater: Inside the Legislative Malice of Republican Cruelty

Trump won. Everyone else lost sleep. And America will lose something more.

WASHINGTON — If you cover Congress for a living, congratulations: you’ve just aged a decade in 27 hours.

This week’s vote marathon—first in the Senate, then dragged through the jagged rocks of the House—was the kind of slog where seasoned Hill reporters start to question their life choices.

When Congress stalls, it doesn’t do so accidentally. It lingers. It drags. It makes a performance of agony. And all of us—journalists, staffers, janitors, interns, dogs in the Press Gallery—witness the theater.

From the beginning, the ending was obvious. Maybe you didn’t have the whip count. Maybe you missed the Senate cliffhanger when J.D. Vance, Vice President and President of the Senate, cast the tiebreaking vote for the GOP. But it was written. The Freedom Caucus always folds. The Republicans always win. That’s the show. We just sit through the pain.

There were theatrics. Big ones. The Freedom Caucus—Brecheen, Burchett, Burlison, Cloud, Andy Harris, Perry, Chip Roy, Valadao—looked like they were t…