With the ouster of former House Speaker Kevin McCarthy (R-CA) hitting its one year anniversary on Thursday, some House Republicans are still fuming over what one called "the single stupidest thing I have ever seen."
In interviews with Haley Byrd Wilt of NOTUS, both Republican allies and detractors of McCarthy — who walked away from his seat representing California in the aftermath — expressed disgust and misgiving over the leadership challenge that exposed the party as a chaotic mess.
According to Wilts, House Republicans are still " emotionally recovering" from the trauma of booting McCarthy and then having to take multiple votes on a new speaker while Democrats looked on and enjoyed the spectacle which included a near fistfight.
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Speaking about the successful move to dump McCarthy led by Rep. Matt Gaetz (R-FL), Rep. Brian Fitzpatrick (R-PA) recalled, "They took an entire branch of government offline for three weeks, when we had two wars raging overseas. It was a very dark day in American history.”
That led Rep. James Comer (R-KY) to add, “It caused a lot of hard feelings, and we wasted several weeks."
"The House looks a lot like it did before Florida Rep. Matt Gaetz and seven other Republicans, alongside House Democrats, voted to remove McCarthy, although Republicans have fewer members than they did then. (McCarthy quit, as did several other GOP lawmakers, and George Santos was expelled.)" Wilts wrote. "McCarthy’s successor, Mike Johnson, has advanced several short-term government funding bills with overwhelming support from Democrats, keeping spending levels largely the same. His negotiating style hasn’t represented much of a shift from the McCarthy era either. To the frustration of his right flank, Johnson hasn’t won any significant policy concessions from Democrats."
With that in mind, Rep. Dusty Johnson (R-SD) admitted, "There are many tragedies of the McCarthy ouster. But I think the eight renegades who ousted him have to acknowledge that they didn’t fundamentally change anything about the House.”
One of the eight House Republicans who led the charge against McCarthy now admits little has changed and when asked if current House Speaker Mike Johnson (R-LA) has done a good job since then, replied with a blunt "No," before adding, "The speakership reveals who the person is.”
“In the history of politics, it was the single stupidest thing I’ve ever seen,” New York Rep. Mike Lawler complained.
Rep. Max Miller (R-OH), meanwhile, ranted that “it was one of the worst things that had ever happened in congressional history. Those eight people who voted to remove Speaker McCarthy put themselves before the country, and we’re still dealing with the ramifications because of that."
Miller then added of the anti-McCarthy rebels: "They’re horrible humans.”
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