House Speaker Kevin McCarthy (R-CA) was roundly roasted on a CNN panel Friday morning for his failure to contain the "toddler caucus" and keep the House of Representatives working coherently.
This comes as Rep. Matt Gaetz (R-FL) continues to threaten to call a vote to oust him, and the country barrels toward a shutdown with little progress from GOP leadership on getting funding passed, as demonstrated when correspondent Manu Raju caught up with Gaetz.
"The Speaker seems to be rattled and unhinged when we need focus and strong effort," said Gaetz in the clip. "Whether or not McCarthy faces a motion to vacate is in his own hands. All he has to do is come in compliance with the deal we made in January."
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"Now, Gaetz appears to be referring to comments during the closed-door meeting where he dared those threatening to remove him to, quote, 'move the f-ing motion,'" said anchor Phil Mattingly, turning to a panel of CNN analyst John Avlon, POLITICO reporter Emily Ngo, and Washington Post video reporter Joyce Koh. "John Avlon, you started laughing there because—"
"All the reasons, Phil," said Avlon.
"You could say what you want about Matt Gaetz," said Mattingly. "But he knows how to kinda—"
"The technical term is 'concern troll,'" said Avlon, to laughter around the table. "That was a concern troll. And he did it quite masterfully. I am concerned that he is becoming unhinged and it's within his power whether or not he gets this lack of confidence vote. McCarthy is in a position of weakness because of a small group of folks on the far right, and he has a narrow margin. Lest we forget, McCarthy's two predecessors, John Boehner, Paul Ryan, as you remember, both were effectively forced out/quit the position because they were tired of dealing with the demands of the far right who are louder and more powerful. That's a structural problem in the Republican Party. It was just called the toddler caucus. There are other words for it. The extreme ends up dominating the debate."
Watch the video below or at this link.
CNN panel roasts Matt Gaetz and the "toddler caucus"www.youtube.com
