Kevin McCarthy’s vaunted political operation launched its revenge tour against the Republicans who ousted him from the speakership with a multimillion-dollar blitz against Rep. Nancy Mace of South Carolina.

But after Mace crushed her challengers in a Tuesday primary, Republicans in Washington are openly asking: What’s the point of all this?

The former speaker’s allies and aligned groups had spent millions attempting to oust Mace, one of eight Republicans who voted to depose McCarthy.

“A lot of the stuff is emotion-based and therapy-based rather than fact-based and grounded in reality,” said Rep. Mike Garcia (R-Calif.). “I think whenever you spend money on a losing cause it’s never favorable.”

Primaries have always been a tug-of-war between party factions, but the personal vitriol in the Republican Party is remarkable. And the stakes are high: The GOP has held the House majority by just a handful of seats — and the chaos and dysfunction of a fractured caucus has been on full display.

But there is also a different set of passions driving McCarthy and some of his loyalists. McCarthy, a prolific fundraiser, has a powerful political operation that helped build the majority, and he’s now using it to turn against specific members of the conference in an act of retribution.

“It’s very personal,” said Rep. Tim Burchett (R-Tenn.), one of the eight Republicans who deposed McCarthy. “It’s 100 percent personal.”