McCarthy ousted by Gaetz: Darcy cartoon

CLEVELAND, Ohio– Led by Rep. Matt Gaetz, Speaker of the Swamp/Gator/Croc/Chaos Caucus, 4% of House Republicans were able to oust 3rd in line to the Presidency House Speaker Kevin McCarthy as Speaker Tuesday. It was the first time in history a ‘motion to vacate’ was filed against a House Speaker and passed

McCarthy was shutdown as Speaker in part because he refused to shutdown the government as Rep. Gaetz had wanted. Now Republicans will shutdown the House for a week, to return next week to elect a new Speaker with one candidate possibly being Rep. Jim Jordan of Ohio.

House rules allowed for just one member to file a ‘motion to vacate,’ which Rep. Gaetz did. Former House Speaker Nancy Pelosi had shelved the rule while she was Speaker. But McCarthy agreed to bring the rule back during the multiple ballot voting it took for him to win the Speakership.

The Republican House fringe who joined with Gaetz had lost trust in McCarthy, if they ever had it, and so did House Democrats who refused to bail him out again as they could have.

Democrats had just bailed out McCarthy, federal employees and the nation when House Democrat’s votes passed McCarthy’s government funding ‘continuing resolution.’ Only to watch him then go on CBS ‘Face the Nation’ and smear them claiming they opposed his resolution, which host Margaret Brennen laughingly scoffed off.

During a Tuesday morning Democratic caucus meeting about McCarthy, a tape of McCarthy’s ‘Face the Nation’ interview was played. This the McCarthy- Brennen exchange:

McCarthy—”I wasn’t sure it was going to pass [the continuing resolution]. You want to know why? Because the Democrats tried to do everything they can not to let it pass.”

Brennen laughing– “Democrats were the ones who voted for this in a larger number than Republicans to keep the continuing resolution alive.”

Brennen is correct. 209 Democrats voted for the resolution getting it passed, despite the resolution not including funding for Ukraine. 90 Republicans voted against it.

McCarthy had further lost trust of Democrats when he cleared the way for the Republican-led Impeachment hearing on President Biden despite there being zero evidence to warrant it.

Late Tuesday McCarthy announced he will not seek the Speakership again next week when voting is set to begin on Wednesday.

Rep. Matt Gaetz has also said he isn’t interested. Days earlier when he was threatening to file the motion to vacate, several of his fellow House Republicans expressed interest in removing Gaetz from the House pending the results of the on-going House Ethics investigation of him.

Gaetz is thought to be eyeing the Florida Governorship when he’s not leering at young women, which is part of the ethics investigation.

To show how out of whack the House Republican fringe has become, one Rep. said Donald Trump should be House Speaker. Can Trump be Speaker if a N.Y. judge just issued him a gag order?

Since Trump may just be just a House of Corrections inmate, more likely Speaker candidates are expected to be, among others, Majority Leader Rep. Steve Scalise, Rep. Elise Stefanik, Rep Jim Jordan and Speaker Pro Tempore Rep. Patrick McHenry.

In another bad looking move for Republicans, one of Rep. McHenry’s first actions was to order former House Speaker Nancy Pelosi to “immediately” vacate her ‘hideaway’ office in the Capitol by next Wednesday when it will be re-keyed, locking her out. McHenry issued this edict while Rep. Pelosi was away at funeral services for Senator Dianne Feinstein.

Given the Speaker’s gavel until the new one is elected, McHenry dramatically hit it down hard. Like he was trying to bring the Republican House back to life? Or nailing the coffin of the Republican House majority in the next election?