The moment of truth for Matt Gaetz is here. Just ask him.
After months of threatening to overthrow House Speaker Kevin McCarthy, the 41-year-old Republican renegade vowed Monday to follow through with an attempted riot later this week during a tempestuous speech on the House floor.
“It’s going to be difficult for my Republican friends to continue calling President Biden weak while he continues to take President McCarthy’s lunch money in every negotiation,” Gaetz (R-Fla.) said to a virtually empty chamber shortly after noon.
Gaetz didn’t actually file his promised motion to vacate the presidency (parliamentary jargon for ousting McCarthy (R-Calif.) from the presidency), but he promised it would come soon.
And if you fail, Gaetz warned, you may find yourself making it up again and again.
Matt Gaetz is once again on a collision course with President Kevin McCarthy. Rod Lamkey – CNP
Journalist: If this fails, will you mention it again?
Gaetz: Yes.
Journalist: How often?
Gaetz: Mccarthy needed 15 votes to become president, so until he gets to 14 or 15, I don’t think I’m being more dilatory than him. pic.twitter.com/FTXKocyUrn
– Acyn (@Acyn) October 2, 2023
“McCarthy needed 15 votes to become president, so until he gets to 14 or 15, I don’t think I’m being any more dilatory than him,” he joked to reporters on the steps of the Capitol after his comments.
But as the Sunshine State gadfly goes for the jugular, he increasingly finds himself with his colleagues’ political knives drawn and pointed at him, and some are even considering legislation to oust Gaetz pending the outcome of a federal investigation. Ethics Committee of the House of Representatives, a possibility that the legislator has both Denounced and used to raise funds. hook.
“Nobody can handle it right now,” one lawmaker told Fox News over the weekend. “An intelligent guy with no morals.”
Kevin McCarthy got Congress to avoid a government shutdown. AFP via Getty Images
“This is personal with Matt,” McCarthy told CBS’ “Face the Nation” on Sunday. “He’s more interested in getting television interviews than doing anything.”
McCarthy has publicly alleged that Gaetz’s animosity toward him stems from the speaker’s refusal to meddle in the ethics investigation, something Gaetz vehemently denies.
Gaetz’s motion needs a simple majority to unseat McCarthy, a result he could achieve if enough House Democrats decide they want the Californian gone.
A handful of hardline Republicans have been coy about whether they plan to vote to unseat Kevin McCarthy.Getty Images
The Florida representative has publicly ruled out closing any agreement between both parties, postulating that Democrats will help depose McCarthy for free.
“Nobody trusts Kevin McCarthy,” Gaetz said on CNN’s “State of the Union” on Sunday. “He has lied to everyone.”
Democrats have been irritated by McCarthy’s antics, especially his apparent failure to meet the maximum spending figures agreed to in this year’s debt limit deal.
While some of them have publicly indicated they would seek concessions from McCarthy in exchange for providing him a lifeline, moderate Democrats have expressed skepticism about doing the bidding of the top Republican firebrand.
“I think it’s about the institution. I think it’s too important,” McCarthy told reporters Monday, avoiding questions about whether he would cut a deal with Democrats to save his skin.
Over the weekend, the speaker claimed that Democrats had “tried to do everything they could to not allow [the bill to prevent a shutdown] approve.”
.@MikeEmanuelFox: Is it necessary to change the rules package so that a guy like Gaetz can’t do this multiple times and disrupt the work of Congress?
MCCARTHY: It would have to be changed to do that, otherwise it can do dilitory actions like this and it could move every 2 days, yes. pic.twitter.com/te5UAOPsPD
– Jacqui Heinrich (@JacquiHeinrich) October 1, 2023
McCarthy also hinted that he wants to modify the rules surrounding a dismissal motion to prevent Gaetz or others from using it as a weapon in the future. In January, he agreed to lower the threshold for filing that motion to one.
“It would have to be changed to do that, otherwise it can do delaying actions like this and it could move every two days.” McCarthy told Fox News Sunday.
Gaetz is keeping his cards close to his chest on when he intends to drop the override motion this week.
President Biden declined to specify whether House Republican leaders reached a deal with them on Ukraine.ZUMAPRESS.com
On Monday he demanded that McCarthy clarify any agreement he may have reached with Democrats over Ukraine funding.
Over the weekend, House Democratic leaders and President Biden appeared to hint that a Ukraine funding bill was on the horizon. On Sunday, the speaker was apparently noncommittal and appeared to condition the introduction of that bill on combining Ukraine funding with border security.
Biden on Monday dodged questions from reporters about whether he had reached a deal with McCarthy on support for Ukraine.
Hakeem Jeffries claimed victory after Congress passed a “clean” interim resolution to keep the government funded. AFP via Getty Images
The use of an impeachment motion to challenge the position of speaker of the House of Representatives has not occurred since 1910, when then-Speaker Joseph Cannon (R-Ill.) survived an attempt to force his removal.
“Republicans must stop their power trips, stop the absurd drama, remember who the enemy is, stop fighting each other and get serious about solving the problems that produce annual systemic failures,” said Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene (R- by Georgia). .) posted on social media in a lengthy thread in which he announced his opposition to both ousting McCarthy and ousting Gaetz.
Many of his colleagues were less charitable toward the Floridian.
“I have no time or patience or tolerance for some kind of psycho-pseudopolitical fetish,” said Rep. Marc Molinaro (R-NY). he told WAMC radio in Albany on Monday.
“I think we have to put the drama aside. I think Matt has downgraded this motion to quash the threat to zero. The only value left is whether he actually pulls the trigger. We’ll see if he does it this week,” Rep. Mike Garcia (R-Calif.) told Fox Business Network.
One of McCarthy’s allies, Rep. Garret Graves (R-La.), says he has drafted his own override motion to undermine Gaetz and “get it over with.”
Some Republican lawmakers are now targeting the impeachment of Matt Gaetz.AFP via Getty Images
A chorus of prominent conservative luminaries has also criticized Gaetz.
“The guy who says McCarthy is the spokesperson for the Democrats is plotting and plotting with radical Democrats to remove a Republican president who is more conservative than him.” Radio host Mark Levin rebuked on X, formerly known as Twitter.
“Is Gaetz secretly an agent of the Democratic Party? “No one else is doing as much to undermine, weaken and cripple the House GOP.” added former House Speaker Newt Gingrich..
Kevin McCarthy has expressed confidence that he will prevail during the uprising. AFP via Getty Images
The president of Freedomworks, the right-wing conservative activist group, Adam Brandon He also criticized Gaetz.
“That [millennial] “Voters, which Republicans need to win elections, want to see Congress doing its job – passing all appropriations bills – and not forcing a chamber to waste time involved in a personality conflict,” he said.
Some moderate Democrats also made clear their anger with Gaetz.
“Every time we all work together, he loses his mind. He does not want the center left and the center right to work together because he has to be the center of attention.” Rep. Greg Landsman (D-Ohio) said in a statement..
“When we do it, it creates chaos to regain attention. Matt Gaetz has no interest in governing. For him, this is all about television appearances. If he says it’s for any other reason, he’s lying. “Just let us govern, which is what most of us came here to do.”
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