And he’s out of there.
Kevin McCarthy has been ousted as speaker of the House of Representatives, becoming the first leader in the history of the lower chamber of Congress to be removed from the position.
In a dramatic 216-210 vote on Tuesday afternoon, the House endorsed a “motion to vacate” to in effect fire McCarthy from the speakership. Eight Republicans voted against their party leader and sided with 208 Democrats, sealing his removal from the post.
The unprecedented vote sets the stage for an election to select a new speaker — though McCarthy has not ruled out putting forward his name to be reselected for the top job.
The historic vote underscores the sharp divides in the Republican party and threatens to usher in a new era of dysfunction in Washington. The House cannot carry out legislative business until a new speaker is elected.
Republicans haven’t had a first-rate speaker since Newt Gingrich stepped down. McCarthy was an improvement on Paul Ryan and Dennis Hastert, but probably not as good as John Boehner. Majority Leader Steve Scalise would theoretically be next in line, followed by Majority Whip Tom Emmer, Conference Chair Elise Stefanik, and Policy Committee Chair Gary Palmer, but line of succession doesn’t always hold water in a speaker fight.
Scalise is, of course, the guy who literally took a bullet for being a Republican. Stefanik has been labeled an up-and-comer for many years now, but I mostly know her from the numerous begagrams that show up in my email. Emmer and Palmer have relatively low profiles compared to the other two. Heritage Action (grains of salt apply) ranks them Palmer 98%, Stefanik 84%, Scalise and Emmer 82%.
Matt Gaetz will not be the next speaker, and whoever gets the job will probably be just as unpopular among conservative activists as McCarthy was.
Tags: Elise Stefanik, Gary Palmer, House of Representatives, Kevin McCarthy, Matt Gaetz, Steve Scalise, Tom Emmer
We are at war. We need wartime leadership with wartime guts, not Mitt Romney’s silverfox California cousin. If dems are willing to burn down the country so they can rule the ashes, we need leadership that will go right there with them.
McCarthy didn’t keep his word, and he pays the price.
If nothing else, letting these twerps know that they will be held accountable is an improvement. It is almost irrelevant whether this ends up with a better or worse Speaker, so long as they start to learn the lesson that they have to keep their word.
I never voted Republican so that they could go to DC and get rich while palling around with the scum Democrats, bending over and spreading their cheeks at every opportunity. The Republican establishment in DC has hit new levels of Stockholm Syndrome, to the point where they’re actually kidnapping themselves and driving to the hideout to report in for extortion.
Kinda really past caring, at this point. They’re all incompetent boobs, who’re going to run this ship of state into the rocks here before long. I really can’t believe that it’s gone on for as long as it has, but here we are.
Not once in my lifetime has a Republican, besides Trump, done what they said they would do on campaign. That’s why they hate Trump; he shows what liars they all are. It’s why the establishment Republicans turned on him so quickly and thoroughly; they dare not risk the frauds and schemes they have going coming out.
Not feeling a whit of pity for any of these arseholes. I hope they get their just deserts, which will be their very own lamp post along the Mall in DC.
“Matt Gaetz will not be the next speaker, and whoever gets the job will probably be just as unpopular among conservative activists as McCarthy was.”
“Not once in my lifetime has a Republican, besides Trump, done what they said they would do on campaign.”
If Donald Trump is elected as Speaker of the House, gag orders will instantly be rendered null and void because Congressional delegates cannot be held to answer for political speech. Moreover, the Speaker is the third in line to Presidential succession. This would negate gamesmanship from the Left to elevate Newson to high office if Biden/Harris were to become incapacitated.
Do House Republicans have the intestinal fortitude to push forward with this plan?
Malthus… The “Republicans” you refer to? The ones in DC? Most of them are the same people who stood by and let Trump get screwed, even actively aided the screw-job. Remember McCain, and his involvement with spreading the Steele dossier? How he went out of his way, time and time again to keep Trump from getting his people approved, and his programs put through?
There is no national-level “Republican Party”. There’s just the establishment oligarchy, and a bunch of rubes from the sticks who believe that they have the same interests as the McCains of the world… The people you’re thinking of as potential combatants against the Democrats are actually long-suborned fellow travelers, Republican in name only. It ain’t happening, not until the entire sorry lot is thrown out of DC, Democrat and Republican.
Weepin’ Johnny Boehner was no prize as Speaker either….
“… whoever gets the job will probably be just as unpopular among conservative activists as McCarthy was.”
No doubt but now everyone knows the Freedom Caucus is not messing around. No doubt McCarthy got a “fool around and find out” warning from them by way of that 15 rounds of voting thing. Apparently they felt he did and they made good on their threat. Whoever comes in now as speaker knows they are not going to tolerate business as usual.
“The people you’re thinking of as potential combatants against the Democrats are actually long-suborned fellow travelers,..”
Then we are ruled by sushi eating surrender monkeys.
ruralcounsel says:
McCarthy didn’t keep his word, and he pays the price.
Bingo.
Staright up and simple: you promise you’re not going to do X (CRs) then pass one with Democrat support because you couldn’t get 218 GOP votes for it?
You’re not a Republican Speaker, and you shoudl get the boot.
The fact that the Democrats have proved they’ll screw you even after you screwed your base to help them? Priceless.
HotAir is claiming Jim Jordan will be the new Speaker
We’ll see