I was shocked and grieved yesterday to learn that political columnist Michael Gerson had died. I was a big fan. I loved his deft and graceful prose – and disagreed with his views 75 percent of the time. I suppose that was to be expected, given his personal orientation (evangelical Christian) and his track record in governance (speechwriter and policy guy for the Bush-Cheney administration).

But nobody nailed Kevin McCarthy and the House Republicans better than Gerson. He was incensed about the MAGA takeover of the party he loved, and he channeled his anger in columns that resonate now more than ever, in the wake of the cult’s paper-thin capture of the chamber. In all likelihood, McCarthy will be the new Speaker – with one ear attuned to his master in Mar-a-Lago and the other bent to the whims of the whackos who think Hunter Biden is an existential threat to the nation.

Gerson repeatedly warned us, most notably two years ago in his Washington Post forum. He may be gone – way too soon at 58 – but his spikiest observations live on. In his honor, I now yield the floor:

“For years, McCarthy has been former president Donald Trump’s factotum — a groveler and sniveler, held in obvious contempt by the object of his loyalty. You can usually identify the minority leader in a picture by his hunted expression…McCarthy wants to show his chest hair and spitting skills in a party where toxic masculinity has become the dominant political philosophy…McCarthy has fully adopted the MAGA conception of governing as gangsterism.

“…Seldom has a political figure misunderstood his country and its challenges more comprehensively than McCarthy. (He is) the United States’ most disgraceful political leader…His slinking to Mar-a-Lago shows a tolerance for humiliation akin to masochism. Is the speakership worth achieving when it involves the sacrifice of your character, your country and your dignity?…The clowns, it appears, are now firmly in charge.

“…A big political tent will always shelter a number of clowns. But that is different from welcoming violent thugs who gain strength from the appearance of legitimacy. To force another metaphor, the rise of radicalism confronts the GOP with a choice between drinking hemlock and not drinking hemlock. McCarthy’s brilliant compromise is to take a slightly smaller dose…The Republican sickness is a broad inability to make rudimentary moral distinctions.

“…McCarthy mouths partisan pablum that the actions of his own party have rendered ridiculous. ‘Democrats,’ he says, ‘are destroying this nation‘ – when only the GOP is actively undermining the U.S. system of government. Democrats are responsible for ‘the greatest expansion of government’ – when Trump in power spent money like a drunken socialist. The damage done by Democrats, insists McCarthy, will be irreversible – when it is Republicans who seek to make Trump’s malignant hold on the country permanent.

“(MAGA) has now enthusiastically embraced as its platform the lawless pursuit and exercise of power…When a leader such as McCarthy fully embraces Trumpism – both its content and methods – as the essence of governing Republicanism, he is not only determining the predominant ideology of his party. He is also implicitly affirming the new ideological ecosystem of the American right – its lawless governing theory, its cult-like conspiracy theories and its threat of political violence. This is very much a package deal…

“He has shown only shallowness, cravenness and negligence. He has been a quailing, simpering paragon of mediocrity. It is the work of a political hollow man…

“The bad news? McCarthy’s party does have a good shot at winning the House in 2022. Smallness of spirit and vision may well be rewarded…The political future is unpredictable and ever-changing. But here is something you can depend on: The elevation of McCarthy to House speaker would be a disastrous day for the Republic.”

True that. Brace yourself for all manner of extremist hijinks – hounding Dr. Fauci on his way to retirement; frothing about Hunter’s laptop instead of tackling inflation; assailing the FBI for its Mar-a-Lago search; perhaps impeaching Joe Biden for the crime of doing his job – thus reminding us that this crew has zero interest in governance.

If only Michael Gerson was still with us, to share his eloquent outrage these next two years.