Breaking: 14th Ballot Petulant Gaetz Sinks Bid
A Series On Misinformation, Disinformation and Subterfuge
Only two individuals were nominated.
Kevin McCarthy will be a significantly hobbled Speaker of the House given what he has surrendered to the Freedom caucus that is much larger and rowdier than the twenty who blocked the nomination coalescing behind Matt Gaetz, Trump’s adopted and favored son currently under criminal investigation for child sex trafficking.
The rules package agreed to that will be voted on after Speakership and oath taking, is a non-starter for actual governance as its set up to gut government spending.
One condition, adding a 72 hour waiting period after a bill is posted before a vote, is both good and bad. It’s bad because legislation rarely works fluidly enough for funding that this will surely cause partial if not repeated full shutdowns of government leading up to the 2024 election. It’s good because there will be no excuse for a legislative office to not read bills.
The rule to vacate, needing one vote, is going to suck for McCarthy while being fun for the Democrats.
Assuming 434 members vote (1 vacancy due to death) it would take 218 votes to elect a speaker. The GOP has 222, so can afford up to four defections which is exactly what happened.
During the vote Matt Gaetz sat out his turn to vote alphabetically so he that he could give his response after full floor voting for dramatic effect after Lauren Boebert voted present. This allowed him to control the entire process with Kevin’s fate hanging in the balance.
Gaetz voted present. Susan Portnoy, Remi Barrette and others were rewarded for helping him get back to Washington along with being the decisive vote lowering the threshold, at least for a moment when fascism’s favorite compromised son appeared to have neutered the Speakership in favor of chaos agents allowing “work” to finally move forward.
One Dem and one Republican did not yet vote. Boebert or Gaetz at this point needed to actually vote to jumpstart the House, something he can do if he wasn’t an absolute jerk to the rest of his party, before the tally is set.
It’s moments like this seen here where leadership matters.
Kevin isn’t much of a leader and Matt Gaetz is accused of sex trafficking children so McCarthy is defeated for the fourteenth time.
The two missing votes are tallied, with 217 needed to finalize the Speakership, swear in instead of swear at House members.
Matt Gaetz wins.