On Friday, we enter day 4 of the House’s attempts to appoint a Speaker, and the turbulence has never been more apparent.
GOP Rep. Kevin McCarthy simply doesn’t have the votes at present, as a sizeable pocket of MAGA Republicans continue to stand between him and the gavel. Things have gotten so bad, in fact, that there is now talk of appeasing enough Democrats to appoint a moderate, compromise candidate.
This wouldn’t sit well with Matt Gaetz.
Thursday on FNC’s “The Ingraham Angle,” Rep. Matt Gaetz (R-FL), one of the 20 Republican holdouts not supporting Rep. Kevin McCarthy’s (R-CA) bid for Speaker of the House, said a coalition of Republicans and Democrats electing a moderate Republican was not a concern.
“Are you going to be OK, congressman – would you be OK if there’s a deal struck with moderate Democrats that give Democrats co-control of the committees?” Ingraham asked. “You’re fine with that?”
The Florida lawmaker was livid.
“Absolutely not,” Gaetz replied. “That will not happen. There’s two potential scenarios here. I’m on the floor. These 212 Democrats are going to vote for Hakeem Jeffries every single time. He’s a historic candidate. They’re not going to cleave off. If Democrats join up to elect a moderate Republican, I will resign.”
Gaetz has been smack dab in the middle of the speaker vote drama from the start, at one point even going so far as to scold former President Donald Trump over his support fro McCarthy.
