McCarthy emerged strong from the debt ceiling fight.

The House will vote on Kevin McCarthy and Joe Biden’s debt-ceiling deal this evening and, by all accounts, the speaker has stuck the landing.

Having reached an agreement with the White House, McCarthy got his way in a crucial Rules Committee meeting yesterday, fought off a Freedom Caucus rebellion and looks set to win support for his deal from a majority of his conference.

To the great disappointment of those banking on a bruising Republican civil war, McCarthy evidently feels secure in his position. Asked about the possibility of disgruntled hardliners filing a motion to vacate today, McCarthy replied: “Look, everybody has the ability to do what they want. But if you think I’m going to wake up in the morning and ever be worried about that, no. Doesn’t bother me. If someone thinks they have the right to do it, call the motion.”

McCarthy has, once again, outperformed the low expectations most of Washington had for his speakership. To be fair to the McCarthy doubters, there were good reasons to be skeptical: his tortuous path to power, razor-thin margins, a bitterly divided party and the concessions made to holdouts in order to secure the speaker’s gavel.

But in an impressive feat of political judo, McCarthy has harnessed what some saw as weaknesses to his advantage: tight numbers have focused minds, the presence of some of his critics in key positions has encouraged broader buy in. In a weak position, McCarthy secured what the Congressional Budget Office estimates will amount to $1.5 trillion in spending cuts — albeit with spending caps that are only enforceable for the first two years. There are a few unexpected baubles too — like a gas pipeline for Joe Manchin.

Progressives are up in arms; the New York Times editorial board complains of “one-sided bargaining” that leaves next to nothing for Democrats to cheer — a rebuttal to the complaints from the right that McCarthy hasn’t extracted enough from Biden.

Along the way, he has made many on both the left and the right look silly. Among them: Joe Biden. The president gambled that the Republicans wouldn’t be able to present anything close to a united front, painting anything short of a blank check “MAGA extremism” and refusing to negotiate for months. Don’t listen to the cheerleaders heralding Biden the dealmaker. Things have not gone according to the White House’s plan.

Those in the media who dutifully toed the administration line look silly too. Last year, MSNBC’s Chris Hayes was telling his viewers that a Republican-controlled House would never negotiate seriously over the debt ceiling and simply use it as a bomb to blow up the economy and undermine Joe Biden’s reelection chances. Those claims, once common on the left, have been memory-holed. Now we are told that the fact that McCarthy managed to compromise with Biden is evidence of the “ideological exhaustion” of the Republican Party. Writing in the New York Times, progressive journalist Ezra Klein almost seemed frustrated that the Republicans hadn’t held out for more: “Threatening default… in order to get a deal like this is like threatening to detonate a bomb beneath the bank unless the teller gives you $150.” Of course, Klein, doesn’t want Republicans to hold out for more, but to surrender the leverage they have.

Some on the right look silly too. Witness, for example, the dust up today between Thomas Massie — the eccentric libertarian and hardline fiscal conservative who backed McCarthy in yesterday’s all-important Rules Committee vote — and Russ Vought, Trump’s former OMB director. Vought went after Massie for siding with McCarthy. Massie pointed out how little Vought and his colleagues did to cut spending when they were in power. “Your path to the dark side is now complete,” tweeted Vought. “You have become your enemy. Have a good day, Thomas.” Vought’s sudden discovery of hardline fiscal responsibility as soon as he is out of power is not unusual — and it isn’t especially persuasive. Most opposition to the deal has been met with a shrug, and seen for the electorally-necessary grandstanding it is.

The debt deal won’t satisfy many. But it is the clearest sign yet of McCarthy’s effectiveness as speaker — and to call it anything other than a big win for the boy from Bakersfield is disingenuous.