The former chair of the GQP House Freedom (sic) Caucus – more accurately the GQP House Fascist Caucus – Arizona Rep. Andy Biggs, implicated in planning the attempted coup on January 6, 2021, Jan. 6 Protest Organizers Say They Participated in ‘Dozens’ of Planning Meetings With Members of Congress and White House Staff, will change “Traitor” Kevin McCarthy, who led 147 Republican lawmakers who objected to the election results even after the Capitol attack, for Speaker of the House in January.
Two more unfit candidates is hard to imagine. OK, I can imagine it, but you get the point.
HuffPost reports, Andy Biggs Is Running For House Speaker Against Kevin McCarthy:
Far-right Rep. Andy Biggs (R-Ariz.) announced Tuesday that he is challenging House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy (R-Calif.) for House speaker, arguing in an op-ed in the right-wing Daily Caller that Republicans need to ditch “the establishment” as they retake power in the chamber. “Will we elect an establishment Republican as the speaker — think [former House Speaker] Paul Ryan, or in this case, Ryan’s right-hand man, Kevin McCarthy.”
Biggs, the former leader of the far-right House Freedom (sic) Caucus, has virtually no shot at becoming speaker. But hard-liners still need an instigator, and Biggs risks creating a big mess for Republicans in the new Congress if he manages to peel away more than four votes from McCarthy. Biggs argued in his piece that the “conservative movement” has a rare opportunity to “change the direction of the nation” with the election of a new House speaker who isn’t McCarthy.
“We actually have the opportunity to dislodge the establishment and reinvigorate the America First movement that was founded by former President Donald Trump,” Biggs wrote. “Yes, that Donald Trump.”
Biggs is one of five Republican defectors opposing McCarthy’s bid for the gavel, including Reps. Matt Gaetz (R-Fla.), Bob Good (R-Va.), Ralph Norman (R-S.C.) and Matt Rosendale (R-Mont.). McCarthy needs 218 votes from a slim House majority to become speaker.
As House minority leader, McCarthy has carefully wooed the right in the hopes of one day leading fractious House Republicans — and it’s paid off, mostly. His influential backers include Reps. Jim Jordan (R-Ohio) and Marjorie Taylor Greene (R-Ga.), as well as conservative radio host Mark Levin and former Trump adviser Stephen Miller. But the five holdouts could still make life challenging for Republicans during the floor vote for speaker next month.
Biggs and several of his far-right colleagues helped organize the Jan. 6, 2021, “Stop the Steal” rally that preceded the attack on the U.S. Capitol. It was later revealed during the House’s Jan. 6 committee hearings that Biggs was among the lawmakers who asked Trump for a preemptive pardon following the attack.
Arizona House Speaker Rusty Bowers (R) testified at the hearings that Biggs was among those who pressured him to decertify Arizona’s 2020 presidential results.
There continues to be rumors that an outsider who is not a member of the House may run for Speaker against Kevin McCarthy.
Jason Easley reports, Republicans Claim They Have A Super Secret Non-House Member Candidate To Run Against Kevin McCarthy:
Republicans are hyping up a non-House member candidate that they claim to have drafted to run against Kevin McCarthy.
Video of Rep. Ralph Norman:
Rep. Ralph Norman, who opposes McCarthy for Speaker, says the renegade Republicans have a secret candidate to run against him who is not a House member: “It will be apparent in the coming weeks who that person will be. I will tell you, it will be interesting.” pic.twitter.com/anD60jvNky
— Ron Filipkowski (@RonFilipkowski) December 1, 2022
Norman said, “I’ll tell your viewers also that an outside member, you do not have to be a sitting member of Congress to serve. It will be apparent in the coming weeks who that person will be, and I will tell you it will be interesting if everything plays out.”
Suppose Freedom Caucus Republicans are serious about bringing in an outside challenger challenger for McCarthy [change of plans today with Biggs?] In that case, the door could be wide open for moderate Democrats and Republicans to form a coalition to name their own speaker.
The right sounds like they are ready to go to war to deny Kevin McCarthy the speakership, and if they follow through on their threat, things will get crazy to start 2023.
The more candidates to challenge McCarthy, the better. Let Republicans go multiple ballots with no winner, and tear themselves apart. And then “the door could be wide open for moderate Democrats and Republicans to form a coalition to name their own speaker.”
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I think the reputational harms that are likely to ensure are more than metaphorical. The political equivalent of pointing a gun at your own foot and firing…
Nasty Repug civil war? Join me in rooting for metaphoric injuries!