Now that Kevin McCarthy (R-CA) has finally been elected Speaker of the House, what will become of the breakaway faction of Republicans who refused to support him and made the entire GOP caucus look like a clown car for 96 hours?
According to a former Republican strategist, members of Congress such as Reps. Lauren Boebert (CO) and Matt Gaetz (FL) can expect to pay a heavy price that may contribute to them not getting reelected in 2024.
Conservative campaign consultant Alice Stewart said Saturday on CNN that the first punishment for renegade members who wouldn’t support McCarthy will be less prestigious committee assignments.
“I don’t think there’s going to be as much under the Christmas tree for them in that regard as they seem to think. Speaking with a lot of members of the rational Republican group throughout the weekend, specifically late into the night last night, they were frustrated. They were angry. They felt this was completely unnecessary given the fact that every concession they had requested had been met and this was not a matter of policy, this was just about personality conflicts with Kevin McCarthy.”
She added:
“Here these people have gone in day-in and day-out for all the right reasons for the party and for policies, and you have people like [Rep. Matt] Gaetz and [Rep. Lauren] Boebert who are in a vanity project to raise money for the future. They do have the opportunity to decide who gets on which committee and where and, I can guarantee you, Alex, that they’re going to be quite selective in who gets on which committee.
“Certainly Matt Gaetz has his eye on the prize for a key committee assignment, but they’re going to be in for a rude awakening because their colleagues are frustrated with the fact that they have a job to do.”
If indeed Boebert and Gaetz do lose in the next election, all of the chaos they’ve cause might just have been worthwhile. And the fewer Republicans there are in Congress, the better off the country will be.
Here’s the video from CNN:
