Kevin McCarthy faces a serious floor fight for Speaker next month after five Republicans said it’s a definite “No.” McCarthy funded opponents of Trump candidates during the primary and is hanging with Mitch McConnell bashing Donald Trump for his unfortunate dinner with Kanye and Nick Fuentes. Watch the Gaetz clip below, where he torches McCarthy with his own words.
As bad as he’s been for conservatives, who would replace McCarthy? It could get worse.
McCarthy’s website indicates that he’s got the Speakership in the bag. If you watch the damning video by Matt Gaetz at the end, you won’t think so.
California Republican McCarthy, the House Minority Leader, “seems to have a math problem in his quest to become House speaker,” Eric Ting writes at SFGate. If Republicans win the last two uncalled House races, McCarthy’s Republicans will have a 222-213 majority in the House. “That means McCarthy can suffer only four Republican defections in the speaker vote scheduled for Jan. 3,” and five House Republicans have said they are hard no’s, Ting adds. “If all five remain steadfast in voting against McCarthy, he’s toast.”
The “NO’s
1)Ralph Norman of South Carolina told Politico last week that he is a “hard” no on McCarthy. He said he wasn’t planning to skip the speaker vote or vote present, which would be less harmful to McCarthy.
2)Andy Biggs of Arizona said in an op-ed published earlier this month. He said, “I do not believe he will ever get to 218 votes, and I refuse to assist him in his effort to get those votes.”
3) Matt Gaetz of Florida said publicly earlier this month that he wouldn’t back McCarthy. He shared the op-ed by Biggs, noting that “we have the votes to force a change.”
4)In a Twitter thread earlier this month, Matt Rosendale of Montana objected to the alleged top-down leadership that McCarthy supports.
5) Bob Good of Virginia told Newsmax earlier this month that he would not support McCarthy and did not believe the California congressman had the 218 votes he needed to become the next speaker early next year.
McCarthy’s Making Promises
McCarthy is weighing a series of moves targeting the Biden administration and other Washington Democrats in the next Congress. At the same time, he’s trying to convince conservative GOP lawmakers to back him for Speaker.
McCarthy vowed to boot California Democratic Reps. Adam Schiff and Eric Swalwell from the House Intelligence Committee and Rep. Ilhan Omar (D-Minn.) from the House Foreign Affairs Committee. He’s also threatened to impeach Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas for his handling of the southern border.
And McCarthy has indicated he will withhold GOP support for a lame-duck vote on a bipartisan defense policy bill to fight “wokeism” in the military.
He also gave a great speech at the border, promising to hold hearings on the border so Democrats would be forced to admit there’s a crisis.
If you believe him, it’s a start. The RINOs will probably never let it happen.
Rep. Jim Comer, his ally, has the strongest argument for Kev – he’s not as bad as the former Speakers, and they should give him a chance. “At the end of the day, we need to give Kevin a chance. I think a lot of these members are frustrated because of things that Paul Ryan did or things that John Boehner did. Kevin McCarthy has never had a chance to be speaker.”
MCCARTHY’S IN TROUBLE
Rep. Matt Gaetz burns McCarthy in this clip. McCarthy plans to censor us.
The real Kevin McCarthy won’t take on Big Tech.
He’ll work with them to censor conservatives like @RepBarryMoore.
He should not be Speaker. pic.twitter.com/W8sWZhZ8Ll
— Rep. Matt Gaetz (@RepMattGaetz) November 29, 2022
McCarthy used illegal FTX money to destroy America First candidates. Wow after years he finally got off his ass to go to the border. All for his own power. Tell McTraitor the next time he goes to the border go to the other side and stay there.
Agree 100% say No to McCarthy. Just another RHINO.
Wow, Comer is one of the main people making all of these empty promises on what he will do next year, Him being a big supporter of McCarthy makes it more suspicious. He appears to be part of the McCarthy show. McCarthy will not fulfill his promises, and there is plenty of wiggle room to back out of them.
Biggs is trustworthy, he says there are 20+ firm no votes. That eliminates McCarthy as speaker. After Kevin went on MSM to tell his tale and threaten the party, he made it worse. Once Kevin is tossed aside, a more liberal/more establishment replacement is impossible.
From confused:
The article assumes 435 votes with 218 to win.
If the 5 abstain would there not be 430 votes and a 216 votes needed to win?
Then Dem gets 213 and McCarthy get 217?
What are the House Rules?
There are 20+ no votes. He stated it yesterday. I believe Biggs over any RINO version of the story. A vote will not be held under those circumstances. The GOP will identify a candidate who can get 218 votes. It will be decided privately.
In practice, an honorable candidate who cannot get the votes drops out. But, the GOP is not an honorable party. The self proclaimed “speaker elect” does not go on MSM, make up a silly story, and use it as a threat to influence others.
McCarthy has alienated too many members. The MSM wants to turn this around and say conservatives are the disrupters.