FROM OUR CORRESPONDENT
NEW YORK – Republican House Speaker Kevin McCarthy, 58, the son of a firefighter from Bakersfield, California, is the real-life figure who inspired Kevin Spacey as he prepared for his role in “House of Cards.” He will surely inspire new films and television series, because yesterday he made history: he became the first speaker of the Chamber to be fired. This had never happened in the United States.
Republicans against Republicans, in a historic and surreal moment. With 216 votes in favor and 210 against, McCarthy lost his seat on the initiative of a handful of ultra-right “rebels” in his own party, led by Florida Rep. Matt Gaetz, who filed a motion for his removal on Sunday. Given the narrow Republican majority in the House of Representatives (221 to 212), only eight Republican votes were enough to seal his end, along with those of the Democrats present (some were absent) who collectively refused to defend him. “And now?” a Republican representative finally asked aloud. Patrick McHenry, a McCarthy ally, is serving as acting speaker, a ceremonial role that involves calling next week’s vote on his successor; McHenry ended the session banging the gavel so hard that some said he “looked like he was going to hit Matt Gaetz in the head.”
The House of Representatives is paralyzed while Congress must pass government funding legislation after mid-November if the shutdown is to be avoided. But it is not clear who can really replace McCarthy and govern the ultra-right. McCarthy announced last night that he would no longer seek to become speaker. Republican rebels angered by Democrats’ help approving federal funding through Nov. 17; why he didn’t make deeper cuts to federal spending; they accused him of making secret deals with Biden to finance Kiev; But vanity and personal revenge are also behind his downfall. Gaetz is a Trump loyalist, but other Trumpians have remained at McCarthy’s side. Trump wrote on social media: “Why do Republicans always fight among themselves instead of against the Democratic far left?” But this time he didn’t personally intervene in the feud, unlike in January when he called some lawmakers to convince them to to vote for “my Kevin”. It took 15 votes, and he won only after agreeing to a rule change that allowed a single representative to petition for his removal: that’s exactly what Gaetz did.
The dilemma for Democrats, who certainly have no sympathy for Gaetz, was whether or not to support McCarthy. Ultimately, their leader in the House of Representatives, Hakeem Jeffrey, instructed them not to oppose his removal, saying the speaker had failed to “distance himself from Make America Great Again extremism.” Democrats say several events, including his Jan. 6 opposition to the commission, show he cannot be trusted. Republicans debated an hour before the vote: “Think carefully, we risk chaos if the speaker’s chair is empty,” some warned; “No, the chaos is McCarthy’s,” the rebels replied. The speaker had challenged Gaetz on Sunday evening: “Come on, I will survive.” Before the vote, he told his people that he was proud of having avoided the “shutdown” and that he had no regrets. He was punctuated by three standing ovations.