The Riot at the End of the Leash

Having allowed the Freedom Caucus to run riot for several years, Kevin McCarthy is finding that appeasement or even a gentle corrective hand is not enough to set things right.

No surprise.

You can get a puppy to stop engaging in self-rewarding behavior like trashcan diving with just a little pressure and consistent gentle correction rapidly made.  

But a 5-year old dog that has run riot for all its life and which has always been rewarded from trashcan diving?  

It might take a little more persuasion.

Expect bucking and acting out as the old dog tests boundaries and the will power of the “new sherriff”.

No dog trainer would have ever imagined “click and treat” would solve obedience problems with the Freedom Caucus.

Is there a way forward?  

There is:  It’s for a dozen moderate Republicans to approach Democratic leadership to put a moderate Republican in as Speaker of the House.

What has to happen next is a withering amount of “Edison Medicine” applied to the 20 Freedom Caucus rebels.

If you think there’s no time or place to “shoot the dog,” I assure you there is — it’s when it’s a rabid animal coming up the leash at you.