Republican lawmakers are beginning to deal with the aftermath of some of the deals Rep. Kevin McCarthy (R-CA) made now that they're searching for the House's next speaker.
Among the rules McCarthy agreed to is the ability for a single member to call for a vote to remove the speaker.
Speaking to NBC News reporter Garrett Haake on Wednesday, an unnamed but longstanding Republican said, unless there is a rules change, "You’re just changing the driver on the clown car."
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It's unknown if Rep. Matt Gaetz's (R-FL) small caucus will allow such a rule to be removed.
At this point, even Republicans like Rep. Ken Buck (CO) have acknowledged that a speaker will be forced to work with Democrats to accomplish anything, he told MSNBC. Rep. Jason Crow (D-CO) agreed, noting that one of the major problems with McCarthy is no one could trust what he told them or the deals he made.
Over the last weekend, instead of trying to coordinate with Democrats to help save his position, McCarthy attacked them, he said.
Sen. Mitt Romney (R-UT) made a similar observation, according to Huffington Post's Igor Bobic.
“I think Speaker McCarthy made a decision to get as close as he possibly could to the radical wing of his party and, by doing that, he made it virtually impossible for the Democrats to come to his aid," Romney told him.
Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-NY) reposted the comment on the social media site X. She also explained she's not in the business of helping Republicans save themselves.
"Contrary to how McCarthy’s defenders are behaving, men failing up is not a Constitutionally protected right," she posted. "The man made risky decisions and faced the natural consequences of them. I am not his mom, and my job is not to put pool noodles around hard corners for Republicans."
"Strengthening someone who voted to overturn the election, held the entire US economy hostage, launched a baseless impeachment inquiry without a vote, and refuses to honor his word is what is in the best interest of this country. Do some of you hear yourselves?" she clapped back at one foe.
See the video of Haake and Buck below or at the link here.
Republicans admit to the clown carwww.youtube.com
