Democrats and the Hateful Eight Knock the House Down
The speaker is dead, long live the speaker!
Throughout our nation's illustrious two hundred forty-seven-year history, the hallowed halls of the United States Congress have played host to many moments of pure drama. In 1854, two Tennessee Congressman, namely William Cullom and William Churchwell, had a fistfight upon the floor of the House. Two years thereafter, Senator Charles Sumner narrowly escaped death as Preston Brooks, wielding a cane, violently beat him on the Senate floor. The brutality stemmed from Sumner's impassioned denunciation of slavery. The gratuitous violence resulted in members of Congress arming themselves — the ubiquitous presence of repeaters, muskets, pistols, and knives seemed to become a congressional norm.
The history of our Congress is replete with division and violence. But, the events that unfolded on October 3rd will be remembered in the annals of history as one of the most unsettling. Representative Matt Gaetz did the unprecedented – the ousting of a Speaker of the House.
On a Tuesday afternoon filled with drama, Speaker Kevin McCarthy was unseated through the motion to vacate procedure, an avenue hitherto untraveled. Unfortunately, Mr. McCarthy had been precariously perched on borrowed time. Recall January of this year, when his ascent to the speakership featured an arduous journey – fifteen ballots, concessions to the fringe, and a tense midnight vote.
Republicans found themselves holding sway with a slim majority, primarily owing to electoral underperformance brought about by the Dobbs decision, thereby bestowing an outsized influence on the Freedom Caucus. Mr. Gaetz was the head of a resolute and determined opposition to Mr. McCarthy's bid to be speaker that necessitated a series of concessions. Specifically, a House rules package amendment was adopted, affording the instigation of a motion to vacate to by one member.
Mr. McCarthy’s ascent to the speakership was, irrefutably, a pyrrhic victory. In his pursuit of the gavel, he had never curried favor with the Freedom Caucus, choosing instead to spend his tenure as a “dealmaker” and institutionally-minded statesman, rather than adhering to strict ideological principles. The rules package was a harbinger for Mr. McCarthy, a signal that his speakership was a veritable time bomb.
Now, no one has better served the interests of the Democratic Party than Matt Gaetz. Fittingly, Mr. Gaetz was positioned with progressives Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez and Ilhan Omar as he launched into a denunciation of Mr. McCarthy with rhetoric fitting a representative of Los Angeles rather than the Florida panhandle. Mr. Gaetz's indictment against Mr. McCarthy was the latter's desire to avoid a government shutdown by cooperating with House Democrats rather than employing the threat of shutdown to get President Biden to “crack down” on the southern border. Mr. Gaetz conveniently omits the truth — that he and his cronies obstructed a previous continuing resolution, which ultimately derailed border security legislation. This resolution, in addition to mandating e-verify, also encompassed an 8% reduction in non-defense spending.
Mr. Gaetz further contended that Mr. McCarthy had clandestinely forged an accord with Mr. Biden in the shadows of a smoky backroom and had faltered in the duty of passing a budget. (It bears noting, as an aside, that Congress has not successfully passed a budget since long before or during the duration of my lifetime.) The conundrum herein is that Mr. Gaetz presumes Mr. McCarthy acted in bad faith vis-à-vis the 'MAGA' agenda, despite the latter's notable alignment with this very establishment.
Make no mistake — Kevin McCarthy was no foe to Trump’s “MAGA” movement. Mr. McCarthy lent his signature to the Texas legal brief, contested the certification of the electoral college results in certain states, persistently cast doubts upon the legitimacy of the election, and even embarked on a pilgrimage to Mr. Trump's castle at Mar-a-Lago to “make nice.” And by some divine feat, Mr. McCarthy forged the House GOP into a broad coalition, uniting firebrands Marjorie Taylor Greene and Lauren Boebert, rank-and-file conservatives, centrists such as Don Bacon and Brian Fitzpatrick, alongside a cadre of moderates from New York and California who, rather surprisingly, won in deep blue districts last fall.
Mr. McCarthy's Republicans authored legislative initiatives pertaining to parental rights, border security, and avoided a catastrophic default by negotiating in good faith with the President in the spring. But in Mr. Gaetz's mind, compromise is synonymous with treachery. The “hateful eight” cohort of Republicans, with unanimous Democratic support, managed to dethrone the speaker. Alas, the People's House is now stuck in paralysis. Speaker pro tempore Patrick McHenry only has the authority to receive nominations for the speakership. Did Mr. Gaetz and his company have a specific alternative to Mr. McCarthy in mind? Of course not.
And now the entire house is on fire.
The vote unveiled the true nature of the Democratic representatives – bipartisanship remains an elusive virtue, summoned forth only when extracting cooperation from their Republican counterparts. Hakeem Jeffries, the House minority leader, declared it to be "the responsibility of one of the GOP members to end the House Republican Civil War," supplementing this with the proclamation that "given their unwillingness to break from MAGA extremism in an authentic and comprehensive manner, House Democratic leadership will vote yes on the pending Republican Motion to vacate the chair." Mr. Jeffries's actions serve to cement his stature as a partisan pawn, devoid of the gravitas exhibited by Nancy Pelosi.
Mr. Jeffries, who cited 'MAGA extremism' as motive for opposing Mr. McCarthy, has paradoxically aligned himself with the very 'MAGA extremism' in the endeavor to unseat the Speaker. Two hundred and eight Democrats shed their figurative skins and revealed their lack of commitment to the nation's welfare, choosing instead to prioritize a cheap partisan stunt. They remain ignorant of the fact that the American electorate, unceremoniously but deliberately, ousted them from the majority and bestowed a mandate for a Republican speaker. Liberal commentators have frequently even floated the idea that moderate Republicans will support Mr. Jeffries for the speakership.
Rather than standing behind the Republican Speaker, who had successfully navigated the treacherous waters of partisan politics to secure Ukraine aid, collaborated with Mr. Biden to avert a potentially catastrophic default, and defied his own party's opposition to pass a continuing resolution that protected the pay of government workers and servicemen, they chose to throw him to the wolves.
The Democratic members of the bipartisan “problem solvers” caucus threw away the veil of purported moderation during this pivotal vote, resulting in the group’s future being left in disarray. Enraged Republican moderates, who had frequently exhibited bipartisanship, expressed their outrage at the caucus's unanimous support for Mr. McCarthy's ouster. The removal of the Speaker was a problem that one would reasonably expect “problem solvers” to solve.
With reports emerging of Republicans contemplating a wholesale exodus from the group, their attention has now shifted to the eight traitors within their own ranks. Mr. Gaetz and his co-conspirators should be expelled from the Republican conference. Republican conference rules still specify that a motion to vacate “should only be available with the agreement of the Republican Conference so as to not allow Democrats to choose the Speaker.”
Mr. Gaetz is by no measure an imbecile; he was a practicing lawyer and graduate of the prestigious William & Mary law school before entering Congress. But House rules do not unilaterally supersede the internal rules package of the Republican conference. The breach of this contract, which each Republican undertakes to uphold, warrants his expulsion. Mr. Gaetz has also drawn the wrath of his party for conduct unrelated to the motion to vacate.
Senator Markwayne Mullin of Oklahoma disclosed that “[Gaetz] would brag about how he would crush E.D. medicine and chase it with energy drinks so he could go all night.” Mr. Gaetz faced a Justice Department investigation into allegations that he had trafficked a 17-year-old girl for sex in early 2021. “And there's a reason why no one in the conference came and defended him,” Mr. Mullin continued. “Because we had all seen the videos he was showing on the House floor…of the girls he had slept with.”
Marc Short, former chief of staff for Vice President Mike Pence, took fire at Mr. Gaetz on CNN declaring that "to say he came as a fiscal crusader, it’s more likely he came here for the teenage interns on Capitol Hill." Mr. Gaetz currently faces scrutiny from the House ethics committee in relation to allegations of sexual misconduct and misappropriation of funds. To expel him from the House Republican conference, a two-thirds majority, 147 votes, is required – a task that should prove neither difficult nor protracted following the ascension of a new Speaker.
Conservatives indeed harbor legitimate grievances in regard to excessive spending and repeated concessions to the left, yet the infighting that has emerged in recent time is an affront to the proud legacy of the Republican Party. Mr. Gaetz has done nothing but embolden the Democrats, while making it embarrassing for me and countless others to identify as Republican. Each of these eight traitors should be accorded the same treatment meted out to Liz Cheney – expulsion, ostracism, and a widely supported primary challenge.
These 'hateful eight' have done nothing to advocate for conservative principles in Washington; rather, they appear to be motivated by nothing but money and fifteen minutes of fame on television. All eight, especially Nancy Mace, demonstrate a reverence for opportunism rather than any semblance of convictions. When it comes to any legislative agenda — the results speak for themselves. Here is what the eight have done whilst in Congress:
Andy Biggs, elected in 2016, has successfully passed one law to rename an outpatient veterans clinic in Arizona.
Ken Buck, elected in 2014, has never authored a bill that passed into law.
Eli Crane, elected in 2022, has not even tried to pass anything.
Tim Burchett, elected in 2018, has never authored a bill that passed into law.
Matt Gaetz, elected in 2014, has never authored a bill that passed into law.
Bob Good, elected in 2018, had the only bill authored by him vetoed by the President.
Matt Rosendale, elected in 2020, has never authored a bill that passed into law and is only notable for failing to win a Senate election in a state that votes eleven points to the right of the nation.
Nancy Mace, elected in 2020, has only passed legislation to rename a post office in South Carolina. She recently introduced a bill related to federal cybersecurity, named the Modernizing the Acquisition of Cybersecurity Experts Act, or MACE. How humble.
These individuals have exhibited no interest in working with the conference or Mr. McCarthy on anything. They are, in essence, political parasites, leeching taxpayer money while enjoying the thrill and fame of a comfortable Washington existence. They show no clear inclination toward problem-solving or advancing the interests of our great nation. Members had not even left the chamber before Mr. Gaetz and Mrs. Mace commenced fundraising efforts upon the Capitol steps, touting their “victory.”
In the words of Vladimir Lenin, these Republicans functioned as nothing more than 'useful idiots' for the Democratic Party. These eight hypocrites, who blasted Mr. McCarthy for working with Democrats on the continuing resolution, were all too happy to work with the entire Democrat caucus to oust him. Their recklessness, driven by their insatiable thirst for personal gain, has all but ensured that the Democrats will regain control of the chamber in 2024.
The priority of the new Republican leadership should be to remove this farcical rule that enables tyranny of the minority, the subsequent expulsion of all eight dissidents from the caucus, and efforts to recruit Republican candidates to contest the seats currently held by these RINOS (Republicans In Name Only).
House Republicans fundraising will be hindered by the absence of Mr. McCarthy, who has raised $645 million for Republican candidates over the course of his stewardship. A great case of hypothetical poetic justice if Mr. McCarthy were to leverage his fundraising acumen to successfully unseat all eight traitors. What happens remains to be seen, but until then the situation bears a striking resemblance to the end of The Empire Strikes Back. The villain, ‘Darth Gaetz’ appears to have triumphed — and will receive the financial rewards for doing so. It was an unprecedented, shocking, and historic gamble that will either propel or sink his political aspirations — let us see how it will pay off.