REPUBLICANS ON CAPITOL HILL have a reputation for infighting and not getting much done. January 3rd, the first day of the 119th Congress, featured plenty of infighting. Surprisingly, the House GOP also managed to get something done—the formerly simple process of electing their leader. Yet the uneasy victory of Mike Johnson, the House speaker, looks tame compared with the legislative fights to come.

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CLAD IN RED baseball caps, draped in the American flag and cheering for Donald Trump, the MAGA movement can be rather brash. Yet one of the people driving it forward is anything but. It is almost easy at first to overlook Russell Vought (pronounced “vote”), with his tortoiseshell spectacles, neatly trimmed beard and scholarly demeanour. That would be a mistake. Mr Vought’s calm exterior belies an incendiary streak, fuelled by his religious convictions. And he will be a pivotal player in Mr Trump’s administration, aiming at nothing less than a destruction of the status quo in American governance.