House Votes to Oust Kevin McCarthy as Speaker: Live Updates - The New York Times
Speaker Vote: Far-Right G.O.P. Faction Throws House Into Chaos as McCarthy Is Ousted
I'm not gonna lie, I didn't expect the vote to succeed. This is surprising, shocking, and even a bit sad. Not for McCarthy, but more for the country. That this is where we've gotten to.
McCarthy needed Dem votes to maintain a hold on the speakership, but the concessions he would have needed to make in order to get them would have meant making himself incredibly vulnerable to a career-ending primary challenge. The political incentives don't line up.
I'm surprised Dems decided to join in ousting him instead of voting present and letting him stay. But I guess watching GOP flail in another month-long speaker election can only help contrast them.
Democrats didn't vote to vacate because they like to watch chaos. They simply will not support McCarthy unless he offers something in return. Their vote is a bargaining chip and they aren't throwing it away.
Especially after he backtracked on the compromise with Biden and then loudly announced he would not concede anything to Dems. The guy went to Home Depot and bought the rope himself. Like, it wasn't going to end well for him either way, but it isn't sad. He constructed this situation, he shouldn't be surprised it blew up in his face.
Gaetz even had to speak from the Democrat side lol
It’s not a good look and they should have left him in. They are supposed to be the adults who do what’s best for the country, and instead of leaving a guy in place who has shown at least some inclination to break with the nut jobs and do what’s right, they are letting the entire chamber shut down until who knows when and some equivalent or worse republican is stood up in his place.
The Dems have TRIED being the adults, and it hasn't worked; it's only gotten the country to where it is now. Might as well sabotage the party and let them wallow in their misery for another couple weeks.
Sorry, I hard disagree. Democrats have nothing to gain by and no responsibility for gratuitously voting for McCarthy. Republicans claim they have the majority, and that is how they control the chamber. But in fact, they do not, because an even more extreme right-wing third party is operating in bad faith under the GOP banner.
So the GOP wants the benefits of chamber control (speakership) without the responsibilities (voting majority). To not hold them to a voting majority is to give them a windfall of power without the votes to justify it.
You know guys, you don't have to actually outdo the UK for unhinged politics. I mean, our lot just won't have that and things are bad enough here already.
Don't... the comments by our (UK) minsters yesterday were appalling and very concerning...
Don't what? Comment on the dire straits of both countries with an attempt at humour? Seems that part failed here.
Woke up today still chuckling at these most very just deserts.
I prefer Dems be honest and say they like chaos, if that's really the motive. I prefer that because they are effectively shutting down the government longer and potentially contributing to another chaos, which is the Ukraine aid.
If they want to be trusted, do it without hiding behind an excuse.
Edit: I'm not blaming it on the Dems. I'm just saying they should not hide their motives if that's what they are doing.
Edit 2: I stroke through the sentence that triggered you guys. Hopefully that would make my point clearer.
I'm finding this mess interesting: the MAGAs vote and debate like a third party, which kinda gives us a House with no majority party which is something we usually don't get to see in America. And we're getting the deadlocks that come from a chamber that isn't willing to form a coalition - or at least not a reliable one.
I just hope the next speaker candidate doesn't try for the same Republican-MAGA coalition. Although I'm prepared to be disappointed. Do you think there's any chance a Republican would offer to sideline the MAGAs to get support from Democrats?
Under this analysis the Democrats have a plurality. How does that tend to work out in governments with more than two parties?
Honestly, any Republican that tries to work with the Democrats at this point is going to get eaten alive. Even if it's a "moderate" one. They have completely gone off the deep end.
Exactly, the only way to govern in a multi party system is bipartisan. Most Republicans cannot put anything above the party line anymore.
Well, the far right faction of Republicans did already side with Dems to oust the speaker.
Which given the composition of the Senate and that whole executive branch thing this means they'll never get anything done.
@hallettj @chloyster Until we stop using politics as a tool to punish each other, get used to more chaos and pain.
This is objectively false. One party deals entirely in culture warfare with no idea how to govern. The other at least tries to interface with real world problems.
All this "we" shit smacks entirely too much of cis het white middle class privelage
yes yes both sides of course, both sides
The Republican party can stop denying women the right to control their bodies, stop denying science, stop censoring history, and stop othering anyone but Christian Cis Het White people any time they feel like it.
But they won't, because that's their entire political identity. I ought to know; I was one of them for 20 some odd years.
Any speaker who agrees to the absurd demand that 1 person can motion for removing the gavel is a fool and won't be speaker for long. We all knew that when McCarthy agreed to it that he was on borrowed time. Hell he lasted longer than I thought.