House Speaker Kevin McCarthy was voted out as speaker Tuesday by the entire Democrat caucus with the aid of seven renegade Republicans led by angry Florida man.
No, not Trump. U.S. Rep. Matt Gaetz.
Colorado’s Ken Buck was among them, which didn’t come as a surprise because the conservative Republican had already made an appearance on NBC complaining about the Speaker.
Then Buck showed up at CNN after the stop-gap spending bill was passed to keep government operating and said he had no confidence in McCarthy.
Buck is a rising star on MSNBC, CNN and other Democrat-loving networks these days.
Just hours after it was reported by Colorado Politics that Buck might draw a primary challenge from state Rep. Richard Holtorf, Buck cast his lot with the Angry Caucus to oust McCarthy.
In addition to Buck and Gaetz, the Republicans who voted with Democrats to kick out the leader in the middle of a session were Bob Good of Virginia, Eli Crane of Arizona, Tim Burchett of Tennessee, Andy Biggs of Arizona, Matt Rosendale of Montana and Nancy Mace of South Carolina.
What in the Hell is Buck thinking these days? Even Rep. Lauren Boebert voted for McCarthy.
PeakNation™ will recall we asked Buck a couple of weeks ago about the reports he was seeking a Biden administration nomination or a talking head job as a token conservative on a lefty news network.
To our knowledge, he has neither confirmed nor denied it.
So is Buck trying to reclaim street cred from conservative voters who might normally root for McCarthy’s dethroning? That is, if the timing wasn’t crap in the middle of Biden’s impeachment inquiry, a looming government shutdown, and a contentious presidential election.
Or is this chaos-causing stunt part of his audition for CNN?
Republicans are rightly frustrated the Angry Caucus voted first to kill a conservative deal to cut spending by a record 30% and provide the toughest border security bill ever put before the House. Then the caucus threw a fit because the only option to keep government operating was to pass the stop gap spending bill, also known as a continuing resolution.
The CR is what triggered Gaetz, and here we are.
I supported Kevin McCarthy in January because I thought he was the person best positioned to keep our promises to our constituents.
It’s clear that we need a principled Speaker who can keep his word not just to members of Congress, but to the American people.
— Rep. Ken Buck (@RepKenBuck) October 3, 2023
Boebert gave McCarthy a beating, but still voted for him.
Meanwhile, the Democrat Dean of the Colorado delegation shed crocodile tears after her vote to oust the GOP speaker.
I’m not at all surprised that the Republican party has declared open civil war on itself. It’s just a shame that the American people will pay the price for this chaos. Today is a sad day.
— Rep. Diana DeGette (@RepDianaDeGette) October 3, 2023
There are reports Gaetz’s actions are revenge on McCarthy for refusing to interfere with his House Ethics Committee investigation of sexual misconduct and misuse of funds:
Since the spring of 2021, Mr. Gaetz has been under investigation over allegations he engaged in sexual misconduct and illicit drug use, shared inappropriate images or videos on the House floor, misused state identification records, converted campaign funds to personal use and accepted impermissible gifts under House rules, among other allegations.
The secretive congressional investigation was paused while the Justice Department carried out a related investigation of Mr. Gaetz’s conduct, including allegations involving sex trafficking and sex with a minor. In February, the Justice Department decided not to bring charges against Mr. Gaetz after concluding they could not make a strong enough case in court.
Rather than putting the House of Representatives into another prolonged fight — it took 15 votes the first time to elect McCarthy over objections from the Gaetz caucus — McCarthy is calling it quits.
And who can blame him?
Now the House is in recess until next Wednesday to allow prospective new speakers to campaign for the job, and funding the government has been put off, again.
We’ve never been McCarthy fans, but it’s not lost on us that those who plotted his demise claiming the appropriations process was taking too long and they didn’t want a CR, kicked out McCarthy for passing a CR, will have no choice now but to pass a CR, again.
From the Wall Street Journal:
Meanwhile, the House is essentially frozen. The putative GOP majority is weaker, and its ability to gain any policy victories has been undermined. Oversight of the Biden Administration will slow or stop. Republicans in swing districts who are vulnerable in 2024 will be especially wary of trusting the Gaetz faction, and regaining any unity of purpose will be that much harder. The crazy left and right are cheering, but no one else is.
It will be interesting to see if the new speaker, who has the power to select committee chairmen, will make even more disruptive changes, or just replaces the House Ethics Committee chairman.