Rep. Matt Gaetz made it his mission to oust Kevin McCarthy as a GOP leader, but the tides could already be turning, as some members of the GOP are considering unseating him.
Last week, a government shutdown looked very likely. However, thanks to McCarthy’s pressing to pass a bill with support from Democrats, President Joe Biden signed the bill into law with just minutes to spare. The resolution brought only temporary solace as the government is only guaranteed funding through Nov. 17.
The fight is not over.
— Rep. Matt Gaetz (@RepMattGaetz) October 3, 2023
Now we must elect a Speaker.
While Gaetz made good on his promise to successfully remove McCarthy from the speakership, Republicans were not happy that he relied heavily on the support of the Democrats.
“I’d love to have him out of the conference,” Rep. Don Bacon told reporters, per The Washington Post. “… He shouldn’t be in the Republican Party.”
“This was a vote for chaos,” Rep. Don Bacon said. “I think it hurts our country, our Congress. Republicans will be weaker for this come next November. And I thought the behavior of these eight folks [who voted against McCarthy] was shameful.”
And it seems supporters of the Republican Party agree.
“Matt Gaetz is a narcissistic, evil and vengeful little man,” Annette Londquist, the head of Bakersfield Republican Women, told the Los Angeles Times. Gaetz “is an angry man,” she said, “and his anger is aimed at Kevin. I would say he just couldn’t let go of the vengeance in his heart, but he doesn’t have a heart.”
Democrats who voted to oust McCarthy were also on the receiving end of the GOP’s ire. Speaker Pro Tempore Patrick McHenry removed Speaker Emerita Nancy Pelosi and former House Majority Leader Steny Hoyer from their hideaway offices in the Capitol.
GOP Sen. Cramer on the eight Rs: “I think it makes the House Republican rebels look foolish. They look unserious.”
— Manu Raju (@mkraju) October 4, 2023
GOP Rep. Miller says while he hasn’t made up his mind, he says Gaetz “should be looked at for expulsion.” And warns this episode could cost them the House pic.twitter.com/pecQQyFVqF
Rep. Garret Graves told reporters Wednesday that Pelosi’s office space would be given to McCarthy.
“Let me say it again, the House of Representatives is frozen. And it’s frozen because Matt Gaetz was played like a drum by [Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-N.Y.)], by Nancy Pelosi and others … with just eight Republicans getting together with 208 Democrats. Every single Democrat in this chamber threw out the Speaker of the House with only eight so-called Republicans,” he said. “If we’re going to continue to have clowns like Matt Gaetz as part of the Republican conference, as part of this Congress, then you’re going to have to have rules in place that prevent him from doing his charade. Every single week, every single month, where he goes out and he does his thing where he creates some manufactured crisis” that he then uses to raise money.”
The Republican Civil War continues…
