Rep. Kevin McCarthy (R-Calif.) is no longer the House Speaker after a small group of Republicans turned against him, reaching the majority necessary for his recent removal after adding the Democrats who also opposed him.
Democrats put themselves politically out there at multiple turns, joining in greater unison than Republicans behind their choice for Speaker (New York’s Hakeem Jeffries) and not simply dismissing out of hand the possibility of having struck some kind of arrangement with McCarthy to help secure his continuance as Speaker with their support — but he apparently wasn’t interested! Former GOP Congresswoman Liz Cheney, who once served alongside McCarthy in Republican Party leadership in the House, said in a recent speech for a public affairs school at the University of Minnesota that she felt Democrats had done the right thing.
“Kevin McCarthy stood on the House floor an hour after the Capitol had been cleared and said that the objections should continue,” Cheney observed. “He released security tapes to Tucker Carlson. He refused to abide by a subpoena that had been issued by the select committee, and on and on and on. So the Democrats made what is a principled and honorable and in my view the right decision to say, ‘We cannot abide by that. The Republicans need to choose their Speaker. They’re in the majority, but we are not going to help to enable somebody who has done those things, and who has apologized [for] and appeased Donald Trump.'”
McCarthy was also among the Republicans who voted against the full certification by Congress of Joe Biden’s win in the 2020 election. Some Republicans have complained about Democrats having stuck to their principles as the motion for McCarthy’s removal was considered in the House, but what were Democrats supposed to do? Buck their basic principles while achieving no policy wins to… overcompensate for the failures of the House GOP to coalesce behind a Speaker pick as needed?
Former Rep. Liz Cheney (R-WY) says House Dems “did exactly the right thing” in voting to remove Rep. Kevin McCarthy (R-CA) as Speaker:
“McCarthy, at every moment over the course of the last two years, has done more to enable and collaborate with and apologize for Donald Trump.” pic.twitter.com/L8BumZCcHk
— The Recount (@therecount) October 5, 2023
