U.S. House Rep. Matt Gaetz (R-FL) apparently had a plan all along. At least that is how it appears to many as the fog begins to clear.
After 20 Reps. Battled to get any house speaker other than McCarthy but not really ever settling on one in particular to be the alternative, U.S. House Rep. Kevin McCarthy (R-CA) finally became house speaker.
McCarthy says he has not promised committee seats to anyone, however many detractors AND supporters seem to think they have goodies lined up for either siding with the California Republican early on, or threatening to withhold their vote. In the beginning of this “insurgent” operation which infuriated many Republicans such as U.S. House Rep. Dan Crenshaw (R-TX), many Democrats pretended to be nonchalant about it.
The Democrats were allegedly salivating at all the different possibilities, ranging everywhere from having the potential to get a more moderate speaker, to even hoping Hakeem Jeffries might graduate from minority leader to speaker.
Towards the final votes however, Democrats saw the writing on the wall, and knew it was only a matter of time before McCarthy would win, after the dissenters were done playing cat and mouse with him and getting almost everything they could possibly ask for within reason from the west coast “conservative”.
A recent statement by Gaetz appears to support exactly that theory of how things went down. According to CNN:
Asked why he reversed course on McCarthy, Gaetz said, “I ran out of things I could even imagine to ask for.”
U.S. House Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene (R-GA) took a different approach than Reps. Gaetz, Boebert, Good, and company. Greene has been under the proverbial gun after losing committee assignments and being called a “racist” by many moderate Republicans and Democrats for speaking at a controversial America First conference.
She eventually backed away from everything that got her “in trouble” and decided to join McCarthy’s side and the side of “the swamp” in the view of many, while simultaneously still claiming the “MAGA Republican” title.
Greene was unhappy with former friend Gaetz and his supporters amid this whole debacle, however, after the 15th vote secured McCarthy’s speakership, they were immediately sitting together and back to being pals it appeared.
Things such as the aforementioned may lead some to wonder how much you see in Washington D.C. is real and how much of it is actually political showmanship to appease various different wings of the GOP’s voter base.
Many Republicans and Twitter users are still not happy with MTG however and it’s questionable if her former MAGA popularity will ever be able to be recaptured.
Stay tuned, as this week may prove to be quite revealing as to what the near term operations of the house may look like.
I won’t hold my breath.