After the speaker of the US House of Representatives was voted out, two Republicans have declared their candidacy. For a new beginning, they would have to unite the deeply divided faction again.
Matt Gaetz doesn’t let up. The right-wing rebel leader also castigates the decision of his parliamentary colleagues to digest Kevin McCarthy’s spectacular disempowerment during a short break with his characteristic malice: “These guys have to go home first to cry for a week?” Gaetz says . And further: “Do they have to wring their hands and pee in the bed for a week?”
Regret sounds different: On the contrary, the hothead from Florida is proud of his coup. “The reason for McCarthy’s downfall is that no one trusts him,” Gaetz claimed – which isn’t entirely true: After all, 210 Republican representatives tried to keep the speaker in office. There were only eight radicals around Gaetz who, together with the democratic minority, brought him down with 216 votes.
Gaetz is all about Self-presentation
“Don’t think Gaetz is telling the truth,” McCarthy shot back, “I’ve never once heard Gaetz tell the truth.” Opinions differ when it comes to Matthew Louis Gaetz, 41 years old, a lawyer from Florida and the scion of a family of politicians: He calls himself a ‘free populist’, once recommended Donald Trump for the Nobel Peace Prize and sees himself as a champion of iron budgetary discipline. Hence the coup against McCarthy, who brought his political opponents, the Democrats, on board for an interim budget.
However, the majority of his parliamentary group colleagues assume that Gaetz is primarily interested in self-expression. And they are seeking revenge: Whoever succeeds McCarthy, according to Republican Representative Mike Lawler from New York, must hold the eight coup plotters accountable. “Together with the Democrats, they torpedoed our Republican majority in the House of Representatives,” complains Lawler.
The first candidates speak out
Two potential successors have already declared their candidacy: Steve Scalise, previously number two after McCarthy, and the ultra-right Trump loyalist Jim Jordan. Kevin Hern from Oklahoma is also said to have ambitions.
Jordan was asked yesterday by a CNN reporter whether he was too radical for the leadership job. “We are a conservative center-right party,” he replied. “I can put them together: My beliefs are absolutely consistent with those of conservatives across the country.”
So is Jordan the ideal mediator for the deeply divided faction? Colorado Rep. Ken Buck is one of the seven who joined Gaetz in bringing down McCarthy. Like so many Republicans, he was asked whether he would vote for Jordan or Scalise: “A recommendation from me wouldn’t be well received,” Buck admits in a realistic self-assessment. That’s why he wanted to hold back for now. However, it is important to find a candidate whom both wings trust and who is serious about budget discipline.
Consequences for Gaetz and his followers
America will have to be a little patient: the House of Representatives will not meet again until Wednesday next week in order to then possibly quickly elect a new speaker. The leaderless parliamentary chamber has allowed itself a short break for the time being: the MPs have retreated to their constituencies to think about the consequences of the McCarthy overthrow.
A number of Republican lawmakers made clear yesterday that they would only support a candidate who would hold accountable the eight party rebels who brought down incumbent Speaker Kevin McCarthy. In addition, the first voices were heard calling for Gaetz, the ringleader of the rebellion, to be expelled from the faction.