House Republicans continue to attempt to reach a consensus on who they want to be the next Speaker. The internal GOP wranglings follow the departure of Kevin McCarthy after less than ten months in the role.
McCarthy was forced out after a handful of hard-right representatives backed a motion to vacate introduced by Florida’s Matt Gaetz. Eight Republicans then joined the 208 Democratic representatives in supporting McCarthy’s removal.
Since then, several names have been mooted to replace McCarthy, including Steve Scalise and Jim Jordan. However, both have failed to win enough support among GOP colleagues.
One GOP figure deeply unimpressed by the infighting is Rep. Tom McClintock. He represents California’s 5th district.
On the weekend, McClintock wrote an open letter to the eight Republicans who ousted McCarthy. He was responding to a letter they published Friday in which they offered to accept “censure, suspension, or removal from the Conference” in order to elect Jordan as speaker of the House.
“Dear Wayward Colleague, Your letter of October 20, in which you graciously offer to martyr yourselves as long as you can get your way, is perhaps the most selfless act in American history,” McClintock began, witheringly.
“We truly don’t deserve you,” he continued. “Your sacrifice is not in vain. You have succeeded in replacing the outdated concept of majority rule with an exciting new standard that a Speaker must be elected by 98.2 percent of the Republican conference.
“Someday, a messiah will be born unto us who can achieve this miraculous threshold, and on that day your judgment will be vindicated and you will be hailed as the geniuses that you are.”
He sarcastically signed his letter, “Your secret admirer.”
NEW: Rep. Tom McClintock is taking aim at the members who ousted McCarthy’s recent vow that they would be willing to be disciplined and expelled from the conference in order to get Jordan the gavel, with the California Republican clapping back in a sassy new letter. pic.twitter.com/UgY8WhcOWR
— Juliegrace Brufke (@juliegraceb) October 21, 2023
Donald Trump backs Jesus Christ
When McCarthy tried repeatedly to gain enough votes to become Speaker of the House back in January, he capitulated to a handful of far-right members who were holding back their support. One of the concessions he made was that it would only require one Representative to lodge a motion to vacate. Previously, a majority of one party had to support a motion to vacate.
One person who appears to agree with McClintock’s view that it would take a Messiah to unite the GOP is Donald Trump. Asked yesterday to name someone who might secure all 217 GOP votes right now, he replied “Jesus Christ.”
When discussing the Speaker Vote, Donald Trump says the only one who could get 217 right now is “Jesus Christ” 🤣 pic.twitter.com/Ok9n2o062a
— Benny Johnson (@bennyjohnson) October 24, 2023
Dan Meuser drops out
GOP Reps. are gathering in Congress today to vote yet again on a name to put forward for speaker. Eight candidates pitched their credentials to the lawmakers yesterday behind a closed-door meeting. A further one (Pennsylvania Rep. Dan Meuser) announced he was dropping out of the race. He later told reporters his party needed to get its act together.
“People are angry, people are frustrated, people are blaming us for the dysfunction, and they are kind of right. So we need to respond. We need to get this done,” Meuser said, reported The Guardian.
Related:
Just when we didn’t think Matt Gaetz could possibly get any dumber, he did this…
Gaetz sent out a fundraising email that called Republicans “RINOs” for not supporting Jim Jordan’s bid for Speaker.
Trump denies Sidney Powell was ever his lawyer… but the internet remembers forever
Powell pleaded guilty last week to charges she faced in the election interference case in Georgia.
bachy
Would that the American people could fire every last one of them.
RoyM
McClintock is just another racist, rabidly anti-LGBTQ, hate and greed driven right wing extremist who is a waste of space and air.
peluzo
Fair enough, but the letter was still spot on
Mack
Beyond stupidity is how the Republicans are acting. But Trump is still pulling the strings and the biggest string is when the government runs out of money early November and Congress has to sit there holding their dicks because the Republicans can’t get their act together. This is Trump’s plan all along, the government has to shut down.
Openminded
I agree that the Repubs are acting stupid right now but it is the Dems who are spending money like there’s no tomorrow causing the recurring debt ceiling and budget problems. Due to Biden’s spending and interest rate hikes the Fed’s debt service is now #3 highest cost line item in the budget and quickly climbing up the ladder. EVERYTHING and EVERYBODY in DC right now is acting stupidly and so out of line that it appears to be hopeless. Neither side has an ideal candidate to present for the next Presidential election and there is little hope that an ideal candidate will step up. Politicians, both parties, have ruined the hopes of a good person stepping up to help lead the country. This country is like a bad divorce right now. Mom and Dad are so busy hating and fighting each other that they can’t see that the kids are starving, they both got pink slipped last week, and the bank’s about to take the house, the boat, and both cars.
dbmcvey
Really. What were the Republicans who started this process thinking? How do you remove someone with no plan of what to do next?
I also think it’s repulsive how conservative trolls only worry about spending when Democrats are in charge. They didn’t worry about the spending when Trump was in office.
storm45701
@openminded: this is hogwash. Republicans spent like rapid banshees during the Trump years, without debate, and further eroded the government tax receipts by instituting a permanent tax cut for the wealthiest Americans. Republicans speak a big game – deficit reduction, balancing the budget – but, when in power, prove incapable of keeping their promises. As usual, Republicans break it, and Democrats have to come in and fix it.
People have got to wake up that the right is a joke, and is doing nothing to help the American people; their goal is entrench power and squash economic equality.
Kangol2
Emmer, the top GQP choice, announced he’d gotten the nod but was out by 6 pm this evening, thanks to Don the Con. No way to run one of the two chambers of Congress but this is what you get with Rethug rule!
dbmcvey
They’re all terrible.
They just rejected Emmer because he supports gay marriage. The GOP is a garbage fire.
dbmcvey
The would never elect Jesus Christ speaker. Too liberal.
Openminded
Since there is no evidence that JC was ever married, they would probably claim he must be Gay and therefore ineligible for the job.
dbmcvey
Yes Open. Republicans are terrible hypocrites.