Rep. Matt Gaetz (R-Fla.) successfully led a coup against now-former House Speaker Kevin McCarthy on Tuesday. He managed to eke out a “win” by rallying the entire Democratic caucus and eight Republicans to oust him. It’s the first time that has happened in U.S. history.
And it’s a total clown show.
Not only does it distract from the already tense budget negotiations, but it makes a laughingstock of the GOP—and the U.S.—and gives Democrats even more leverage to push through their radical policies.
Gaetz got a win, but at what cost? Sure, he’ll raise a lot of campaign money from this—he’s already sending out emails and asking for money on Fox News— but is there a plan going forward? Of course not. The two congressmen whose names have been bandied about as potential House speakers—Jim Jordan (Ohio) and Steve Scalise (La.)—both spoke on behalf of McCarthy ahead of the vote and then voted to keep him as speaker. McCarthy announced tonight that he will not seek reelection as speaker. Gaetz stated emphatically that he doesn’t want the job. At publishing time, Scalise had sort of thrown his hat into the ring, and some are floating Trump as the next speaker, but none of that will be sorted out quickly.
House Democrats and Republicans have been at a stalemate over budget negotiations. The continuing resolution will expire on Nov. 17. There will be another showdown and possible shutdown as the country races toward the proverbial fiscal cliff. Instead of working on that problem, Republicans will be squabbling over the speakership. How does that help the country?
Gaetz, whether intentionally or ignorantly, overplayed his hand. He’s being celebrated in some circles as the brave defender of all that’s good, but not everyone is on board.
Asked about former president Trump’s support for his plan to oust McCarthy—whom Trump had endorsed and supported throughout his tenure—Gaetz equivocated and wouldn’t give a straight answer.
Trump took to Truth Social to berate Republicans for their disunity, writing, “Why is it that Republicans are always fighting among themselves, why aren’t they fighting the Radical Left Democrats who are destroying our Country?
Hardly a ringing endorsement of Gaetz’s strategy (if he even had one).
Fox News host Jesse Watters didn’t have anything nice to say about today’s dog-and-pony show, and Sean Hannity asked, “Was this the best strategic and tactical approach at this moment?”
“Now uncertainty reigns supreme on Capitol Hill,” he added. While acknowledging that Gaetz and the other seven Republicans had legitimate concerns, he said, “Many of those measures could have been dealt with” under McCarthy’s leadership.
“So today, the question we all have is, was the nuclear option needed? Was it worth it? Well, I can tell you right now, I don’t know. Time will certainly tell whether this was a good move or a bad move. One reality will not change: Republicans have a minuscule majority, whoever the speaker is.”
And that’s the problem. Whoever becomes the next speaker will still have to deal with the same reality. The GOP has a slim majority that ranges from left-leaning Republicans in Democrat districts to moderates to the eight holdouts. And Democrats can still block anything the House sends over.
No one, not even legendary former Speaker Newt Gingrich, arguably one of the most successful Republican House leaders in history, could 100% unify the Republican caucus.
And speaking of Gringrich, he lambasted Gaetz and his compatriots on “Hannity” Tuesday night. “It’s a very sad day,” he said. “Kevin McCarthy is one of the most talented leaders I’ve ever worked with. I think that he accomplished an amazing amount while having a small majority” and battling both the Senate and the White House. He called the outcome “tragic.”
“The University of Georgia Bulldogs is the number one team in the country now. If you started a game, and four of the members of the offensive squad decided they were actually on the Alabama side and begin tackling your own people, you’d probably get them off the field.”
“Think about what we saw today,” he continued. “Four percent—four percent—[of the Republican caucus] decided they were so morally superior, so intellectually pure, so patriotically better, that they would side with the Democrats. That’s what they did in order to defeat the entire Republican House caucus.” He called the eight Republicans who sided with Democrats “traitors” who should be primaried and “driven out of public life.”
“They [chose] to go to the other team to cause total chaos.” And instead of focusing on issues that matter to the American people, “You’re gonna get a week or ten days of the media focusing on Republican disarray. It’s an astonishingly destructive behavior by a handful of egocentric people who think they’re superior to 96% of the country.”
If Gaetz expected universal support for using the nuclear option, he was sadly mistaken. Jim Jordan summed up the debacle by saying, “I think this is a day where we say, ‘Look, what happened here was not good.’ I think what happened to Kevin McCarthy was not fair. Let’s figure out how we come together as a conference and focus on our agenda.”
Unfortunately, that’s unrealistic at this point, thanks to Gaetz and his merry band of showboaters.
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