Kevin McCarthy Tells Republican Caucus He Will Not Seek The Speakership Again - Here's My Thoughts

October 4, 2023 by Sundance

According to multiple DC media sources, a quiet effort is underway by members of the professionally republican mindset to kick Matt Gaetz out of the House Republican caucus.  However, the advocates worry they will be primaried by voters in their district, as the population of Republican voters supports Gaetz.  It is a duplicitous dynamic.

Meanwhile, Kevin McCarthy has told his Republican conference that despite prior statements, he will not attempt to become the House Speaker again and will instead retire to his home district in California.

No one is quite sure what comes next; what is clear is that Gaetz has channeled the frustration of the Republican/MAGA base into an actionable result.  This should not come as a surprise to the GOPe, although many of the cloistered clan continue pretending not to understand the dynamic at play.

Allow me to provide some simple clarity.

♦ In 2009 72% of the country, and an even larger percentage of the Republican voters, did not want Obamacare.  The govt takeover of healthcare was along purely ideological grounds.  For the 2010 midterm election, the professional Republican apparatus campaigned on this single issue – repeal Obamacare.  The voters destroyed the Democrats and flipped 67 seats to Republican control.  The professional Republicans wanted the House, frustrated American voters gave it to them.

The Republicans did nothing.

♦ In 2012, the professional Republicans campaigned on retaining the House and asked to begin a process of taking down the Democrat control of the Senate. Remember, it was a 60/40 Senate when the Obamacare boondoggle was begun.  Keep the House, help us take Senate seats, and we will repeal Obamacare and balance the budget.  That was the call of the 2012 professional Republicans.  The voters delivered.  The GOPe kept the house, took 6 seats in the Senate and introduced a wave of fresh Republican blood.

The Republicans did nothing.

♦ In the 2014 midterm election, the professional Republicans campaigned on retaining the House and now flipping the Senate with more GOP seats.  Keep the House, give us the Senate majority, and we will repeal Obamacare and deliver a balanced budget.  The voters again delivered.  Beginning in January 2015, the Republicans controlled the House and the Senate majorities for Obama’s last two years.

The Republicans did nothing.

Worse still, even with professional Republican control of both chambers of congress, President Obama never had to use his veto pen.

♦ In the 2016 election, after the professional Republicans could no longer stop/block candidate Donald Trump, they said if we get the White House, retain the House and retain the Senate, we will repeal Obamacare, return to regular budgetary order, and balance the budget.   Stunningly, against all the odds, the voters yet again delivered.  President Trump won the election; Republicans now held the White House, the House and the Senate – as requested.

The Republicans did nothing.

Worse still, the professional Republicans acted as if they were the dog that just caught the car.  Now they had no excuses, and as a result there was an exodus of retirements announced from the caucus of the professionally Republican to begin in 2018.

Simultaneously, the professional Republicans passively allowed the targeting of Donald Trump by a fully weaponized intelligence apparatus and justice system to commence.  To say the professionally Republican were willfully blind would be polite and generously honest.

In the background the RNC did nothing.  The California ballot harvesting operation of 2018 reflected a complete lack of action by the RNC or CA GOP.  We all well remember how that operation expanded nationwide in 2020, again with the RNC doing nothing.

This is the reality of what took place between the elections of 2010 and 2020.   Every ask of the professionally rRpublican apparatus was delivered by voters. Every ask of the voters in return was ignored.  Effective January 2021, Obamacare still exists, no budget was ever produced, the borders were unsecured, the economy tanked due to Biden policy, energy and printing presses.  Crises, along with insufferable government mandates, amplified and expanded from coast to coast.

The Green New Deal was passed by Republicans and Democrats, and the collapse of the economy came with it.

Clear enough?

Suddenly, as if there was no background of repeated broken promises and a complete failure to deliver on any key request, Kevin McCarthy and his legion of professionally Republican supporters pretend they cannot fathom why the base voters are more than happy to support Matt Gaetz.

WASHINGTON DC – Kevin McCarthy will not seek the speakership again, marking a devastating end to his time in GOP leadership.

The California Republican informed his members behind closed doors Tuesday night that he will forsake another attempt to win the top job after his ouster on Tuesday, according to seven people familiar with the remarks.

His announcement comes amid intense anger over his ouster by Rep. Matt Gaetz (R-Fla.) and seven other GOP members, who voted with House Democrats to eject him earlier Tuesday. Most Republicans vocally opposed his eviction.

McCarthy told his conference that he would return to California to spend time with his family. In his stead, the House will be run by Rep. Patrick McHenry (R-N.C.), his hand-picked choice as acting speaker. House Republicans have no plans to return to session until next week, scrapping their plans to try to pass party-line spending bills.

The vacancy atop the House is sure to set off a scramble among ambitious Republicans — one that’s likely to get dirty and dragged-out, particularly if McCarthy’s deputies try to ascend. The GOP agrees that the most obvious choices are Majority Leader Steve Scalise (R-La.), House Majority Whip Tom Emmer (R-Minn.) and Conference Chair Elise Stefanik (R-N.Y.), all of whom had publicly backed McCarthy until he bowed out.

“I might have been given a bad break, but I’m still the luckiest man alive,” McCarthy said, according to multiple people in the room when he revealed he would not, as he’d vowed, keep trying to stay speaker.

[…] Republicans are willing to admit one thing: No one knows what the coming days, or weeks, will bring. (read more)

Battered Conservative no more!