The “clown show,” as some call the power struggle among Republicans in the House, has brought a special joy to Democrats. For a change, somebody else is being called “the party in disarray.”
That’s obvious after Kevin McCarthy on Tuesday became the first speaker of the House in history to be voted out of office. The House, now needs to do what got them into this mess: elect a new speaker. That is, if anyone wants to subject themselves to the job of being a spear-catcher. That’s what the job has become for a Republican House caucus taken over by a power-hungry minority, the far-right faction led by Florida’s Matt Gaetz, Colorado’s Lauren Boebert, Georgia’s Marjorie Taylor Greene, and others who seem to prize attention over governance.
The trouble began when House Republicans narrowly averted a government shutdown but were angry about it. They were upset because McCarthy had committed what the new factional leaders call the mortal sin of compromising with some Democrats to win just enough votes to — horrors! — keep the government’s lights on until at least mid-November.
To win their support for his pursuit of the speaker- ship, the dissident Republicans forced McCarthy to accept changes in the procedure known as “motion to vacate,” a resolution that is used to remove a presiding officer from a position. The maneuver has been tried before but never successfully — until now.
Under the old rule passed by a Democrat-controlled House in 2019, only a party leader or a majority of one party could hold a vote to force a motion to vacate. The new Republican-backed change put McCarthy on an even shorter leash. It empowered any single dissatisfied member to hold a vote to force Mc- Carthy out.
Gaetz, who seems never to have found a TV camera or microphone that he didn’t like, thrust himself in front of the media as leader of the rebellion. What was McCarthy to do? As the deadline for passing a short- term funding bill neared, he did what he had promised his fellow partisans that he would not do. He welcomed the votes of Democrats to pass the short-term funding bill, keep the government’s lights on, and the paychecks for government workers and their families flowing.
Gaetz was predictably livid. He decried McCarthy’s betrayal with the addition of a little Donald Trump- style conspiracy theorizing to spice up his argument: He claimed that McCarthy had struck a side deal on the sly with President Joe Biden on aid for Ukraine.
But at least some members of his own conference had had enough of Gaetz’s antics.
”Wake up, dude,” Rep. Mike Lawler, R-New York, said to CNN host Jake Tapper on Monday, referring to Gaetz. “This is absolutely ridiculous, and it’s just him trying to latch on to something else to create chaos and try to use it as a ,…
Thank you for reading Clarence Page article on scoopnewsusa.com. For more on “Kevin McCarthy is out. Now whose party is in disarray? It’s the GOP’s turn“, please subscribe to SCOOP USA Media. Print subscriptions are $75 and online subscriptions (Print, Digital, and VIZION) are $90. (52 weeks / 1 year).
