“Traitor” Kevin McCarthy (R-CA) won a nomination vote, but he does not have enough votes to actually be elected Speaker of the House – nor should this pusillanimous craven coward who led 147 Republican insurrection aiders and abettors to vote against certifying the 2020 Electoral College vote, even after he and his staff had to flee from MAGA/QAnon insurrectionists who were hunting down members of Congress to kill on January 6, 2021, ever be allowed to become Speaker of the House.
The Hill reports, McCarthy readies for floor showdown in Speakership bid as opponents dig in heels:
House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy (R-Calif.) is expected to go to the House floor to fight for the Speakership as his GOP opponents signal their stance is hardening.
McCarthy this week started posturing for a floor showdown and turning up the heat on those withholding support.
On Newsmax on Monday, McCarthy warned that House Democrats could pick the Speaker if Republicans “play games” on the House floor on Jan. 3. He shot down a question from CNN on Tuesday on whether he would step down in the race for Speaker if he does not get support from 218 Republicans.
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McCarthy won support from more than 80 percent of the House Republican Conference for the Speakership nomination. But 31 Republicans voted against him, and with the GOP winning a slim majority — around 222 seats to around 212 for Democrats, all of whom are expected to vote for Rep. Hakeem Jeffries (D-N.Y.) for Speaker — just a handful of GOP defectors on the floor could force multiple Speaker ballots or sink his bid.
A Speaker can be elected with fewer than 218 votes, as the nominee only needs support from a majority of those voting for a candidate. Vacancies, such as the seat for the late Rep. Donald McEachin (D-Va.), who died on Monday, absences and “present” votes lower the threshold that a Speaker will have to reach, and potentially give McCarthy some wiggle room.
But in an escalation, all five of the House Republicans who have explicitly said or strongly indicated that they will not vote for McCarthy on the House floor on Jan. 3 — Reps. Matt Gaetz (Fla.), Bob Good (Va.), Matt Rosendale (Mont.), Ralph Norman (S.C.) and Andy Biggs (Ariz.) — now say they will not vote “present” during the Speakership vote.
Biggs and Good clarified this week they will vote for an alternative candidate, taking the same position as Norman. Rosendale also said he will not vote “present” and said he could only vote for McCarthy under “extreme circumstances.”
“I’ve been a lawmaker since 2010. Never voted ‘present’ in my life. Don’t plan to start now,” Gaetz told The Hill.
“If Jan 3. turns into a shitshow, it will be a direct result of McCarthy denialism. He doesn’t have the votes. He never had the votes. It is time to move on and consider candidates who lack five objectors in our conference,” Gaetz said. “Kevin’s brinksmanship and stubbornness pose the greatest risk of empowering Democrats to impact the Speakership vote.”
Several other hard-line conservative lawmakers have declined to say how they plan to vote.
House Freedom Caucus Chairman Scott Perry (R-Pa.) said he will not make his position public, and Rep. Chip Roy (R-Texas) has only said that no one has 218 votes for Speaker right now. Rep. Lauren Boebert (R-Colo.) has declined to disclose her thinking on the Speakership, saying she is focused on the automatic recount in her election.
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Biggs and Good say that they think there are around 20 “hard noes” on McCarthy. Marjorie “Q” Greene said she thought the universe of those leaning against McCarthy is closer to 10 members.
As those against McCarthy harden their stance, outside commentators are chiming in against the opposition. Conservative commentator Mark Levin on Tuesday called McCarthy’s opponents the “five boneheads.”
“They’re playing right into the hands of the Democrats, right into the hands of the establishment Republicans, right into the hands of the media,” Levin said.
Here’s where the plot thickens. This is all speculation at this point, so take this with a grain of salt, but how sweet it would be if Democrats and non-MAGA establishment Republicans teamed up to deny “Traitor” Kevin McCarthy and the GQP House Freedom (sic) Caucus – more accurately the GQP House Fascist Caucus – the House Speakership?
Rumor and speculation on Capitol Hill has it that the “Cigarette Man,” former Speaker John Boehner, could return to lead a Democratic and non-MAGA Republican coalition against the MAGA seditious insurrectionists – a plan so crazy, it just might work!
Jason Miciak reports, Boehner Capitol Visit Spins Swirling Vortex of Rumors:
During the last two years, we’ve all learned that the Constitution doesn’t specifically require that the Speaker of the House be a member of the House. When it comes to votes for Speaker, the Republicans will – at most – have a five-vote majority, more likely four. When one considers the current House GOP, the idea of a universal agreement is hard to envision. So what if Democrats offered up John Boehner, trying to attract twenty to thirty Republicans who aren’t interested in having to please Marjorie Taylor-Greene? That is the speculation swirling on the net after Boehner visited the Capitol last night and did not answer a question as to why he was there.
Me: So, Speaker Kevin McCarthy?
Boehner: “As I told a journalist today…you can’t get in trouble for something you don’t say.”
— Frank Thorp V (@frankthorp) November 30, 2022
So, whatever Boehner might say could cause “trouble” of some type? If Boehner was there to give some experienced advice to scrambling party leadership, he probably could have said something to deflect the rumors that he had to know would fly like bats out of the Capitol Cave. But he did not.
So fly they did:
O lord Jesus Christ please for the love of God have Boehner somehow get the speakership https://t.co/al092Hazti
— ℕick 🇺🇦🇺🇸 (@LeopoldNick) November 30, 2022
If the Democrats put up John Boehner and continually voted as a solid block, with the Republicans hopelessly fractured, it is possible that ten to twenty Republicans could be persuaded to vote for an “experienced Republican.”
John Boehner is certainly not your MAGA Republican. This is a man who used to golf with Barack Obama. While many Republican voters seethed over Obama being in the White House, Boehner noted that they had a good personal relationship. Perhaps that is why Democrats might put him up as Speaker, Boehner doesn’t viscerally hate Democrats, but he does hate Ted Cruz and Donald Trump.
Will it happen? Probably not. But John Boehner was doing something in the Capitol last night, and he wasn’t taking a tour.
John Boehner’s revenge tour – I love it! I will buy the Cigarette Man a case of his favorite merlot wine if he will just get me a ticket to the gallery to witness in person the MAGA Hindenburg crash and burn.
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