Tag: Kevin McCarthy

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Congress Elections GOP

Kevin McCarthy Begs Democrat To Switch Parties And Support Him For Speaker Of The House: Report

Rep. Kevin McCarthy (R-CA) is so desperate to be the next Speaker of the House (and yet so unpopular with members of his own party), that some of his allies recently reached out to a House Democrat about switching parties and supporting him, Politico reports.

Kevin McCarthy’s allies have attempted to sway at least one moderate Democrat to the GOP side of the aisle in recent days, according to a person with knowledge of the situation — a sign of desperation as he searches for the 218 votes he’ll need to become House speaker next year.

Rep. Henry Cuellar (D-Texas) has received calls from multiple people close to McCarthy, including one current and one former member, as the California Republican attempts to lock down support amid a burgeoning conservative rebellion, the person said. Cuellar repeatedly rejected the idea.

Mark Bednar, a spokesperson for McCarthy, denied his boss had played any role in such a plan:

“Anyone suggesting this is simply exercising in fan fiction. Leader McCarthy is going to be elected Speaker by the current and newly-elected members of the House Republican Conference. Our efforts are exclusively focused on bringing our conference together and saving the country.”

Rumors of such a controversial outreach could be enough to sink McCarthy’s already fading chances of being elected Speaker. Even as some are actively pushing McCarthy’s name forward, conservatives in the House Freedom Caucus plan to submit an alternative name, which could sink any chances of McCarthy getting the votes he needs.

But it comes as some members of the pro-Trump Freedom Caucus weigh a two-step plan that’s designed to topple him. The Californian could also have to stare down emboldened centrists who are ready to press him for concessions of their own.

Who will the Freedom Caucus put forward? Two names appear to be the favorites, and both are right-wing extremists known for favoring confrontation instead of compromise: Reps. Jim Jordan (R-OH) and Andy Biggs (R-AZ), both of whom have connections to the January 6, 2021 attack on the U.S. Capitol.

McCarthy may also be undercut by his own past actions and remarks, especially as they relate to failed former president Donald Trump, of whom the California Republican allegedly said, according to The Washington Post, “There’s two people I think Putin pays: Rohrabacher and Trump.”

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Congress GOP Social Media

Kevin McCarthy Asks If Americans Are Better Off Than 2 Years Ago And Gets His A*s Handed To Him

During debate Friday on the Inflation Reduction Act, House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy (R-CA) borrowed a line from former president Ronald Reagan that quickly came back and bit him squarely on the ass.

HuffPost reports:

In a speech on the House floor, McCarthy asked, “Is America better off today than they were two years ago?” which referenced a question Reagan asked during a 1980 presidential debate with then-President Jimmy Carter.

McCarthy’s memory, however, must indeed be very short, because as Twitter users quickly reminded him, two years ago the United States (and the entire planet) were in the throes of the COVID-19 pandemic which has so far killed over a million Americans.

The impact of the COVID pandemic was magnified in the U.S. in large part because then-president Donald Trump refused for months to acknowledge the seriousness of the disease and told the country it would dissipate as soon as the weather grew warmer in the spring and summer.

Trump also suggested using disinfectant inside the body to destroy the virus and infusions of “light” into people to counter the disease.

While McCarthy’s question was clearly meant to be rhetorical, he was pelted with responses for the complete tone-deafness of what he said.

https://twitter.com/ItsJustMarkNV/status/1558197747726962688?s=20&t=y9XKUoTmrlEUS2zCpY1jng
https://twitter.com/mikeavila/status/1558217852108374016?s=20&t=_lWGAuu5yVMXFvMcWTFpuw

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Congress GOP Social Media Uncategorized WTF?!

Matt Gaetz’s Latest Tweets Sound A Lot Like Death Threats Aimed At Kevin McCarthy

Something very strange is going on with Florida Republican Congressman Matt Gaetz, and it doesn’t bode well for how he’ll respond on the day indictments for child sex trafficking are handed down against him and he’s facing the prospect of life in prison.

Gaetz posted three tweets earlier today that on the surface seem like little more than a vapid commentary on a Newsweek article he came across with the title “All-male cheetah pack kill leader in bloody coup.”

That prompted the Florida congressman to follow-up with this:

Cheetahs and House Leadership races, huh? Well, the current leader of House Republicans is Kevin McCarthy (R-CA), who said Wednesday he agrees with Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-KY) that the January 6 attack on the Capitol was indeed “a violent insurrection.”

It’s tempting to say that Gaetz was aiming his tweets at McConnell, but he referenced “House Leadership races,” so that narrows down who he’s referring to.

No matter how you look at it, however, it sounds like a direct threat of some violent action that Gaetz is formulating, even though the chance he’ll still be a free man when such decisions are made is fading by the day, because another person with knowledge of the accusations against Gaetz has now entered a guilty plea and agreed to cooperate with prosecutors, according to Politico:

A Florida collectibles dealer connected to the federal investigation into Rep. Matt Gaetz formally entered a guilty plea in Orlando on Wednesday, marking another twist in the ongoing probe into the Republican congressman.

Joe Ellicott, known as “Big Joe,” pleaded guilty in federal court to conspiracy to commit fraud and drug charges and has agreed to cooperate with federal authorities. Ellicott is a relatively minor figure in the ongoing Gaetz probe but was listed on a federal grand jury subpoena in December 2020 along with Gaetz and several other men.

Here’s some free advice for Kevin McCarthy in light of the Gaetz’s tweets: You might want to increase your security detail and keep a close eye on the perv from Florida.

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Congress GOP

Matt Gaetz Publicly Humiliates Kevin McCarthy As The GOP Civil War Descends To The Gutter

Though they try to keep their disagreements behind closed doors most of the time, there’s a civil war taking place inside the Republican Party, with once faction representing the pragmatic but conservative view that’s traditional for the GOP and the other eagerly making common cause with domestic terror groups and insisting Donald Trump must be allowed to serve as president for as long as he wants.

In other words, it’s the pre-Trump GOP vs. the Neo-Fascist GOP.

One of the most controversial of the new Republicans is Rep. Matt Gaetz (FL), a man who seems to believe that it’s perfectly acceptable that he dated underage girls and took them across state lines for the purposes of having sex with them. For that, Gaetz is now facing life in prison if he’s indicted and convicted.

But there are also some Republicans who try to walk the line between the old GOP and the new version of the party. People like House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy (CA), who spoke with Donald Trump on the day of the Jan. 6 Capitol insurrection and is worried details of that call will be provided to the House Select Committee investigating the riots.

Such was the topic for Gaetz on his podcast, Firebrand, and he noted that “McCarthy doesn’t have strong reactions to things. It’s not his style. Following the targeting of our members, he surprised and said this.”:

And yet, Gaetz then took a very real cheap shot at McCarthy:

“That’s some huffing and puffing indeed. No low T (testosterone) today. But how can we trust Kevin McCarthy to go beyond talking tough to Nancy Pelosi when he won’t even stand up to Liz Cheney or Adam Kinzinger? You see, Cheney and Kinzinger sit as Nancy Pelosi appointees on the January 6th committee. They’ve crossed the Rubicon, joined the other side.”

So McCarthy can’t be trusted because he won’t punish Liz Cheney and Adam Kinzinger? That means there’s a very real war taking place inside the GOP and they’re aiming their guns at each other. It’s a circular firing squad, and that won’t end well for Republicans.

How should we respond to this? We should applaud with glee and hope for more. The sooner the Trump-infested GOP destroys itself, the better for this country.

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Congress Donald Trump Elections Joe Biden

MAGA Faithful Pillory Kevin McCarthy Online After He Admits Biden Was ‘Legitimately Elected’

House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy (R-CA) did a complete 180 degree turn on Tuesday during an appearance on Fox News.

Speaking with Fox host Bret Baier, McCarthy was asked for his thoughts about failed, one-term former President Donald Trump’s continuing claims that he actually won the 2020 election and was cheated out of it, despite never providing a shred of evidence to support those assertions.

McCarthy told Baier:

“Joe Biden is the President of the United States. He legitimately got elected.”

McCarthy and Trump have what can best be called a love-hate relationship, as evidenced by reports that the two had a shouting match on the phone during the Capitol insurrection on January 6:

“‘When McCarthy finally reached the president on January 6 and asked him to publicly call off the riot, the president initially repeated the falsehood that it was antifa that had breached the Capitol,’ Rep. Jaime Herrera Beutler, R-Wa., said in a statement posted to Twitter on Friday night.

“At one point during the phone call, McCarthy told Trump: ‘Who the f—k do you think you are talking to?’ according to a Republican lawmaker briefed on the conversation.”

So it shouldn’t come as a surprise that McCarthy is ready to move on, especially since he probably fears Trump might try another run at the White House in 2024, provided he isn’t in prison at the time.

But the MAGA faithful were outraged by what McCarthy said, and they took to Twitter to vent their anger and shed their tears:

https://twitter.com/Loraleejiron1/status/1415073402960945153?s=20

https://twitter.com/edglomb/status/1415074719833939970?s=20

Trumper tears are so damn sweet.