McCarthy’s not resilient---he could be gone at any moment AND Republican speakerships are always weak to begin with.

Facing fresh threats of being ousted from the right, McCarthy has filled up his calendar and capitalized on every moment as speaker as the Washington establishment openly speculates how long he can hang on.

“I don’t think he knows when it’s going to happen,” said one House Republican lawmaker who supported McCarthy for speaker, “but he’s planning just like it’s going to happen tomorrow.”

Speakerships are “ephemeral — just like all of our time here in Congress,” quipped Rep. Andy Biggs, R-Ariz., a former leader of the ultraconservative Freedom Caucus and one of the “Never Kevins” who tried to block McCarthy from the top job.

“Republican speakers typically don’t have a long shelf life given the dynamics of the conferences these days,” said former Rep. Charlie Dent, R-Pa., who witnessed the Freedom Caucus push out Speaker John Boehner in 2015, deny McCarthy the gavel, then torment Speaker Paul Ryan before he, too, left Congress in 2019.

“Maybe he can break the trend,” Dent said of McCarthy. “He’s doing what every other speaker would be doing but … maybe a little bit more on an accelerated timeline.”