WASHINGTON -- A full House for four days and four nights felt like 40 in the political wilderness.

Pumping his fist like a frat bro, California Republican Rep. Kevin McCarthy eked out a victory for House speaker.

Even then, the man from Bakersfield showed no gravitas.

Look it up, Kevin. Brooklyn’s Rep. Hakeem Jeffries, the new Democratic leader, showed steady poise and smarts straight out of “Hamilton.”

Witnessing the marathon roll votes from the press gallery, I tried not to remember the mob Donald Trump sent to the Capitol on Jan. 6, 2021.

I sat frozen in the same spot then. Gunfire, grunts and broken glass still echo, two years on.

The raucous House denied McCarthy, 57, the 218 votes needed in 14 roll call votes.

In deep time, we were back on the brink of civil war. That was the last time a speaker vote lasted longer than McCarthy’s.

The strange thing happening was not only a House divided, but a war waged within Republican ranks.

The Right versus the hard Right was not a pretty picture. (No moderates to soften the mix.)

By the end of the midnight chamber drama, McCarthy gave the House away to 20 extremists.

Meaning, he bargained away so much power that he’ll have little left. Not that he cares.

The title’s the thing. All McCarthy wanted was to wrest the gavel from Democrats. No principles or rules were too sacred to sacrifice.

After all, the leader first blamed Trump for the deadly Capitol riot, then visited him in Mar-a-Lago.

Among the most reckless parts of McCarthy’s “deal” endangers the House ethics committee and the debt ceiling, which guarantees the full faith and credit of the United States.

Experts say government shutdowns are in our future -- and jams in the way Congress conducts business and funds social programs.

We’ll also have a slew of sham “investigations” by the hater Rep. Jim Jordan, R-Ohio. Just wait.

America will soon see the new Republican majority, especially the “Freedom Caucus,” did not go to Washington as believers in good governing.

They came to paralyze democracy, and they did it on the first day.

Texan Rep. Chip Roy, once chief of staff to Sen. Ted Cruz, was one leader of the Republican mutiny.

Pugnacious Rep. Scott Perry, R-Pa., was another. He dared to compare Frederick Douglass to their cause. Rep. Kweisi Mfume, D-Md., a former president of the NAACP, was not amused.

An aggressive pair of Arizona Republicans, Reps. Andy Biggs and Paul Gosar, also voted against McCarthy.

Across the aisle, Speaker emerita Nancy Pelosi, D-Calif., sat in back benches, bemused at the chaos McCarthy wrought.

If this was political theater, Republicans could not get their act together.

Lauren Boebert, R-Colo., a sophomore member of Congress, was a vocal holdout against McCarthy, declaring on the floor that he should quit the race.

The Trump loyalist spoke as the mob advanced two years ago: “Madam Speaker, I have constituents outside this building right now.”

Speak, memory.

Between votes, McCarthy told reporters, “It’s not how you start, it’s how you finish,” as if it was biblical wisdom.

Within the anti-McCarthy faction, Rep. Matt Gaetz of Florida, seen as a lightweight troublemaker, rose and made the most cutting comment on his character.

Gaetz bluntly stated that McCarthy had “sold shares of himself” to become speaker. The irony of him voicing a Democratic lament was lost.

After a near-brawl, Gaetz voted “present” to give McCarthy the prize he craved.

Democrats stayed solid in a Greek chorus of 212. A Marylander, Rep. David Trone, had surgery one morning and returned in the afternoon.

The Democratic caucus bonded in a baptism by fire, under new management.

Jeffries and his leadership team, Reps. Katherine Clark, Mass., and Pete Aguilar, Calif., proved worthy of the hour.

Once the dirty deal was done, Jeffries, 52, gave a speech that landed like Demosthenes, the Athenian orator. He struck a sore nerve in praising “the peaceful transfer of power.”

Violence may break out again, since McCarthy removed the metal detectors for members entering the floor, the Pelosi rule.

Then an epiphany: few Republicans in this House ever denounced Trump. Most challenged the 2020 election results.

Methinks this time, the mob wore a sea of red ties and dark suits.

Jamie Stiehm may be reached at JamieStiehm. com. Follow her on Twitter @JamieStiehm. To find out more about Jamie Stiehm and other Creators Syndicate columnists and cartoonists, visit Creators.com