Kevin McCarthy won’t rule out returning to speaker role – latest

Matt Gaetz mocked the notion of bringing back Kevin McCarthy to the speakership after New York Rep Mike Lawler told reporters that “there are a lot of people who believe Kevin McCarthy is the right person to lead us”.

Mr Gaetz noted that “a lot of people” is still fewer than the 218 votes required to grasp the gavel.

“Math is real. Time to move forward,” he wrote.

The story of Kevin McCarthy is the parable of the appeaser; the man who keeps feeding morsels to the crocodile hoping it will eat sufficiently well that it won’t gobble him up in its deadly jaws, but – snap – eventually it does.

And with one sickening crunch on Tuesday afternoon the teeth of the ultra-Maga Republicans in the House of Representatives sunk into McCarthy – and he was done; well and truly chewed up and spat out by the people he’d spent nine months bowing down to, accommodating, and trying to please.

Unlike the UK system where the speaker is essentially a kind of referee – the neutral umpire upholding the Commons’ rules – it is more instructive to think of the speaker of the House of Representatives as akin to our prime minister. You are responsible for deciding what legislation to introduce, directing what the House committees investigate – and just like the PM, the speaker is chosen by the party that holds a majority. And after the 2022 midterms that was the Republicans (with the squeakiest of majorities). McCarthy’s long-cherished dream was within sight.

“Congressman, you say that you stand with Israel, you’re ready to defend Israel and yet you’re completely incapable of helping Israel because you’ve brought Congress to a standstill, a state of paralysis, have you not?” she asked.

Mr Gaetz – who introduced the motion to vacate Kevin McCarthy, leading to a historic vote that resulted in his ousting as speaker – replied that Secretary of State Antony Blinken had “reject[ed] that premise”.

Ms Welker pushed back saying: “He didn’t reject it, Congressman. He called Congress to get back to work.”

House Rules Chair Tom Cole (R-OK) told Politico that the GOP no longer has to abide by a previous spending deal cutting back appropriations made last June with far-right members of its caucus.

“This agreement was faulty from the beginning. It’s changed over time, and now in a sense, it doesn’t exist at all because McCarthy isn’t the speaker anymore,” Mr Cole said. “So we’re not really bound by this agreement now. That will be an interesting thing the new speaker will have to hash out.”

The Lincoln Project shared a mocking video of Republicans blasting their own party members for removing Kevin McCarthy from the speakership.

“What do you think his Speaker tombstone should read?” the Lincoln Project wrote on X.

Rep Brendan Boyle (D-PA) introduced a resolution which would require a speaker of the House to be a member of the chamber, a move that would block former President Donald Trump from assuming the role.

H.Res.761 would amend “the Rules of the House of Representatives to limit the eligibility for nomination to serve as Speaker of the House of Representatives to Members and Members-elect of the House”.

The resolution was introduced on Friday.

Rep Jason Crow (D-CO) wrote on X on Monday that the “Republicans must call House back into session immediately. Our national security can’t wait”.

Alexander Vindman, one of the top witnesses in Donald Trump’s first impeachment, wrote on X on Monday that “the disarray in US politics & the chaos wrought in our government, a nonfunctioning Congress with no speaker & hundreds of military promotions on hold resulting in inadequate staffing in many critical commands, has invited our enemy’s aggression”.

“MAGA & GOP are complicit!” he added.

As he runs for House speaker, Republicans appear eager to ignore that. Yet by embracing Jordan they tie themselves further to that attack on democracy and the Constitution.

Jordan was an early and enthusiastic recruit in Trump’s war on the republic and reality—in public and in private.

Ousted Speaker Kevin McCarthy didn’t rule out returning to the role atop House leadership if enough members of his party would be willing to back his comeback.

Appearing on Hugh Hewitt’s radio programme on Monday, Mr McCarthy said, “Whatever the conference wants, I will do”.

At the press conference shortly after his removal on Tuesday, Mr McCarthy said: “I will not run for speaker again. I’ll have the conference pick somebody else.”

But as it’s unclear if anyone will be able to reach the required 218 votes, Mr Hewitt asked Mr McCarthy if he would put his name back in contention to break a deadlock.

“Look, the conference has to make that decision,” Mr McCarthy said.