Well, it’s going poorly in the Republican Party, folks.
Reports alleged on Tuesday that former House Speaker Rep. Kevin McCarthy (R-Calif.) physically shoved one of the Republicans who voted for his removal from that leadership position, Rep. Tim Burchett (Tenn.). The alleged incident took place as McCarthy was walking behind Burchett, and it was witnessed by a journalist, Claudia Grisales with NPR. Burchett said he’d received no other outreach from the Californian since casting that fateful vote.
As Grisales relayed it, Burchett seemed outraged and followed after McCarthy, who denied he’d shoved the Tennessee Republican. Speaking evidently directly to McCarthy, Burchett reportedly said: “You got no guts, you did so… the reporter said it right there, what kind of chicken move is that? You’re pathetic man, you are so pathetic.”
“No, no that was it,” Burchett told Grisales of what he’d heard from McCarthy since the vote on House Speaker. “That’s it. He’s got $17 million to work against me. And he’s just a — he should have kept his word. I think that just showed what he’s about and it’s unfortunate.”
Republicans are now roughly back where they were when McCarthy was removed, with government funding potentially running out within days and no immediately clear path to a long-term solution passing the House, where the GOP has a majority. A short-term extension could again come up for a vote, with Democrats helping put it over the top like last time… but would that course of events also spur right-wing outrage with the new Speaker, Rep. Mike Johnson (R-La.), who procedurally is still under threat of a removal spurred by a motion that only needs one to introduce it? (The rules seemingly haven’t been changed since McCarthy, resisting possibilities of working with Democrats to salvage his Speakership, was booted from the role.) Read Grisales’ thread right here.
