Fox News host Tucker Carlson perhaps summed up yesterday’s chaos in the House the best, explaining why some true conservatives are not willing to vote for Kevin McCarthy as Speaker.
“Kevin McCarthy of California was going to be Speaker,” Carlson said. “But then a group of 20 Republican members stopped him.”
He added, “They stopped him because they decided that Kevin McCarthy is not conservative enough to represent a party that’s just taking back the House from Nancy Pelosi.”
“And they are definitely right about that.”
If Kevin McCarthy wants to be Speaker, he’s going to have to give his colleagues something real — actual concessions. He can start with these two things. pic.twitter.com/tzTajZjgaU
— Tucker Carlson (@TuckerCarlson) January 4, 2023
RELATED: Donald Trump Loudly Backs Kevin McCarthy for Speaker, Blames Mitch McConnell For Chaos in the House
McCarthy, though, has the strong backing of former President Donald Trump. He sports an 88% rating in the current session from the conservative Heritage Action group (though his lifetime score from FreedomWorks is under 70%.)
He even has support from consistently strong MAGA supporters like Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene.
So what is the problem here? Why are 20 other right-leaning Republicans refusing to support his speakership?
“McCarthy is not especially conservative,” Carlson explains. “He is, in fact, ideologically agnostic. He’s flexible.”
And that flexibility has true conservatives concerned that he will be awarded the role and revert back to the all-too-familiar face of a false leader for the Republican message – like the Boehners and Ryans we’ve seen in the recent past.
Or, to revert back to McCarthy from 2012 to 2018, when his Heritage Action group rating was nearly indiscernible from Adam Kinzinger, ranging between 40% and 57%.
With that, we list off five stories from this past year alone that prove Kevin McCarthy may not be worthy of getting a clean vote for Speaker of the House.
Tried to Get MAGA Conservatives Banned From Twitter
In a move that is little different than that of Democrats and the FBI, McCarthy openly pondered the possibility of getting conservatives banned from social media.
Audio surfaced in April of the lawmaker denouncing fellow Republicans – particularly America First Representatives Matt Gaetz (R-FL), Lauren Boebert (R-CO), and Mo Brooks (R-AL) – for ‘putting other lawmakers at risk’ with their comments about the 2020 election.
“Well, he’s putting people in jeopardy, and he doesn’t need to be doing this,” McCarthy said of Gaetz for referring to those unwilling to fight the 2020 election results as ‘anti-Trump.’ “We saw what people would do in the Capitol, you know?”
“Can’t they take their Twitter accounts away, too?” the California Republican would later ask.
His words prompted Carlson to denounce McCarthy as “a puppet of the Democratic Party.”
????
Tucker Carlson Calling Out Democrat Party Puppet @GOPLeader
“In a phone call reported today by the NYT, Congressman Kevin McCarthy told his close friend Liz Cheney that he hoped the social media companies would censor MORE Conservative Republicans in Congress.” pic.twitter.com/HRQMzaVva5
— The Columbia Bugle ?? (@ColumbiaBugle) April 27, 2022
Caught On Audio Discussing Blaming Trump For Capitol Riot
More audiotapes released the following month featured McCarthy describing Trump’s actions surrounding the January 6th riot at the Capitol as “atrocious.”
He would later discuss options such as invoking the 25th Amendment to remove Trump from office but ultimately decided it would take “too long.”
“Look, what the president did is atrocious and totally wrong,” McCarthy said of Trump in a call recorded on January 8th.
What Trump did was urge protesters concerned about election integrity to make their voices “peacefully” and “patriotically” heard.
Their book is out today.. but @jmartNYT & @alexburnsNYT are still dropping audio bombs.
This time Kevin McCarthy says:
“What the president did is atrocious and totally wrong.”Full story: https://t.co/lLGEf1uiD9 pic.twitter.com/Ag0mbDsmhb
— Ryan Nobles (@ryanobles) May 4, 2022
Actively Worked to Oust MAGA Republican Madison Cawthorn, Other America First Candidates
The Washington Post reported in September that McCarthy “worked” previously “to deny (Madison) Cawthorn a second term in office,” saying he had “lost my trust.”
Cawthorn had been endorsed by Trump at the time, but had accused members of Congress of using drugs and inviting him to an “orgy.”
The well-planned targeting by McCarthy didn’t simply focus on Madison Cawthorn. The House Republican leader also sought to keep other MAGA candidates out of Congress.
The Post wrote that Kevin McCarthy and his political machine were working to “systematically weed out GOP candidates” they felt might give him “trouble” as House Speaker.
It was also an effort to eliminate conservative candidates in districts where more moderate candidates were perceived to have a better chance of winning.
Scoop: Kevin McCarthy’s allies helped sink Madison Cawthorn. A look at how the would-be Speaker’s political machine worked to keep the most Ultra MAGA out of Congress w/ @jdawsey1 @iarnsdorf @MariannaReports https://t.co/hLhJJcUpJj
— Michael Scherer (@michaelscherer) September 27, 2022
Said Before the Midterms GOP Would NOT Impeach Biden
McCarthy, just a couple of weeks before the midterm elections, took a motivating issue for many voters of impeaching President Biden and declared it would not happen.
In an interview with Punchbowl News, McCarthy admitted that should the GOP win back congressional control in the 2022 midterms, they would not pursue impeachment.
“I think the country doesn’t like impeachment used for political purposes at all,” said McCarthy. “If anyone ever rises to that occasion, you have to, but I think the country wants to heal and … start to see the system that actually works.”
He later lamented the fact that Democrats had sought the impeachment of Trump before he took office and suggested the GOP had to be better than that.
“You watch what the Democrats did – they all came out and said they would impeach before Trump was ever sworn in,” he said. “There wasn’t a purpose for it.”
If anything, that means they lowered the bar and that’s the level at which the GOP must fight back. If Trump were President and Democrats controlled the House, do you think they’d pump the breaks on impeachment and insist the country needs to heal?
NEW in @PunchbowlNews AM — MCCARTHY on investigations if House Rs take the majority.
TOP LINE: @GOPLeader is quite bearish on impeachment.
Check out what he told us pic.twitter.com/jboHv9NPoX
— Jake Sherman (@JakeSherman) October 19, 2022
Pretended He’d Pull Back on Aid to Ukraine
McCarthy announced in late October that when the GOP takes control of the House, Ukraine would no longer be the benefactor of a “blank check” from the United States government.
“I think people are gonna be sitting in a recession and they’re not going to write a blank check to Ukraine,” McCarthy said. “They just won’t do it. … It’s not a free blank check.”
About a week later, allies of the Republican lawmaker were furiously backpedaling on the statement.
“McCarthy was not saying, ‘We wouldn’t spend money.’ McCarthy was saying, ‘We’re gonna be accountable to the taxpayer for every dollar we spend,’” one lawmaker told CNN.
It was an effort, CNN said, to “soothe the House’s senior defense hawks.”
Which is a super-neat way to say he was talking out of both sides of his mouth.
Inside the House GOP effort to keep weapons flowing to Ukraine. A deep dive, looking at what GOPers are doing as they prep for next year, w/ @jeremyherb @MZanona @KatieBoLillis. https://t.co/EmjsfcQbK7
— Kylie Atwood (@kylieatwood) October 26, 2022
The House will again convene at noon today with a fourth round of voting for Speaker of the House to be likely.
Trump has urged those in opposition to McCarthy’s speakership to “close the deal” and “take the victory.”
With this list of his behavior in recent memory, we’re not sure it would be a great victory.
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