House GOP Appears To Be In Chaos With No Speaker In Sight
The House of Representatives appears to be on the verge of slipping into utter chaos as the majority party seems
Tristan Green
The House of Representatives appears to be on the verge of slipping into utter chaos as the majority party seems to have no plans to replace their Speaker. Republicans ousted Speaker Kevin McCarthy after a rebellion was led by MAGA frontrunner Matt Gaetz. But days have passed and the party seems no closer to a replacement Speaker. The chaos comes at the worst time for the GOPs. War erupted in the Middle East and they need to be united and effective. Instead, they’re infighting and scrambling for a new leader with no clear winner in sight.
Matt Gaetz Preemptively Goes After Kevin McCarthy
Speaker of the United States House of Representatives Kevin McCarthy (Republican of California) speaks to reporters while walking to his office from the House floor at the Capitol in Washington, D.C., Tuesday, June 20, 2023. Credit: Julia Nikhinson / CNP. Photo credit: Julia Nikhinson – CNP / MEGA
The newest battle in the House all started with a stopgap bill passed by former Speaker Kevin McCarthy. A government shutdown was looming, and the pressure was on to present a bill to the House to keep the lights on. At the last minute, McCarthy was able to negotiate with House Democrats on a bill that they then approved. The bill went to the Senate and President Joe Biden signed it quickly. That bill extended funding for the government for 45 days.
Florida Representative Matt Gaetz immediately called to remove McCarthy from his role as Speaker for “capitulating” to Democrats. Two days after the bill passed, Gaetz filed a motion to dethrone McCarthy. And it passed, officially removing him from his leadership role. However, political experts have speculated that Gaetz’s attack on McCarthy was not due to the stopgap bill. Gaetz was reportedly worried that McCarthy was planning to remove the Florida Rep. And that Gaetz acted preemptively to remove McCarthy first.
The House Ethics Committee is currently sniffing into Gaetz’s past behavior, which may include inappropriate behavior of a sexual nature. And may include sexual abuse of a minor. Some have hinted that the Republicans are tired of Gaetz’s extremist pro-MAGA ways and look at the investigation as a chance to remove him from office. But Gaetz was able to strike at McCarthy first. And this may dull the enthusiasm of other Republicans who may now fear what Gaetz can do with the united Freedom Caucus behind him.
House GOP Appears To Be In Chaos With No Speaker In Sight
United States Representative Jim Jordan (Republican of Ohio), Chair, US House Committee on the Judiciary during a hearing on the “Weaponization of the Federal Government” in Washington, D.C., Thursday, July 20, 2023. Credit: Julia Nikhinson / CNP. Photo credit: Julia Nikhinson – CNP / MEGA
Unfortunately, Matt Gaetz’s removal of House Speaker Kevin McCarthy came at the worst possible time for the United States. Over the weekend, tensions between Israel and Palestine’s extremist regime Hamas exploded into all-out war. Now, instead of being able to respond while firing on all cylinders, the GOP has hobbled the House’s ability to formulate a response.
And plans to replace McCarthy aren’t going well. The assumed frontrunner to replace him, Steve Scalise, just withdrew his nomination for the Speaker role after he failed to secure enough in-party support to take the position. And the second favorite, Jim Jordan, is considered a MAGA extremist along the same line as Matt Gaetz. And he would be a hard sell to moderates in the GOP. Currently, it does not appear that Jordan has the votes to take the role of Speaker. Which brings Republicans back to square one.
They have no clear frontrunner capable of securing the necessary votes. And time is ticking. Aside from being ineffective in responding to the war in Israel, the House is now barrelling towards that 45-day mark where they’ll be faced with another looming government shutdown. Therefore, Republicans who were once hopeful that they would reclaim Congress and the Presidency in 2024 due to rapidly rising inflation under Democrats are now grappling with the fear that they have very little hope of reclaiming either.
And there’s no real end in sight yet to the chaos in the House.