<p>Just days before President Joe Biden passed one of the most consequential spending bills in American history, Kevin McCarthy, the Republican minority leader, was reading Dr Seuss on Twitter.</p><p>What, one might wonder, was going on? McCarthy was reading from Green Eggs and Ham in response to a decision made by the estate of Theodor Seuss Geisel (Dr Seuss) to stop publishing six books by the much-loved children’s author because they contained material deemed racially offensive. The issue inflamed conservative media, dominated the airwaves and drew angry condemnation from senior politicians, including Ted Cruz, a Texas senator, who blamed the Seuss decision on Biden.</p>