The House on Tuesday voted to remove Rep. Kevin McCarthy (R-CA) as speaker, marking the first time in history a House speaker was removed through a resolution to oust them.
The effort was launched on Monday by Rep. Matt Gaetz (R-FL), who introduced a privileged resolution to vacate the speakership after accusing McCarthy of cutting a secret side deal with President Biden on Ukraine aid.
Since a handful of Republicans supported Gaetz’s maneuver, McCarthy needed some Democrats to support him to survive, but none did. The final vote was 216-210, with eight Republicans and every Democrat voting to remove McCarthy.
There’s no clear nominee to replace McCarthy, but in the meantime, according to CNN, Rep. Patrick McHenry (R-NC) will serve as interim speaker.
Gaetz had long been threatening to launch an effort to remove McCarthy. His decision to go through with the motion came in response to the stopgap funding bill that was passed by the House on Saturday and signed by President Biden to avert a government shutdown.
The House stripped billions in Ukraine aid from the stopgap funding bill, but Gaetz said McCarthy must have cut a secret deal since Democrats supported it anyway. President Biden said Sunday that he expected McCarthy to “keep his word and secure the passage of support for Ukraine at this critical moment.”
While the majority of Congress still supports the proxy war in Ukraine, the fact that staunch opponents of the policy like Gaetz have power over House leadership is significant. Opposition to proxy war among Republicans in Congress will likely continue to grow as a recent CNN poll found 71% of Republican voters don’t want more spending on Ukraine to be authorized.
I am not a fan of Gaetz, but I commend him on having the kahunas to take on McCarthy. McCarthy is not trustworthy.
He was one of the only people in the House who asserted that Zelensky is neither a member of the House (cf Pelosi’s and Harris’ performance as HS cheerleaders), nor the president of the country, meaning that Congress is not obligated to satisfy Zelensky’s endless imperious demands.
My guess? The way has been cleared to pour tons more US currency down the Ukraine toilet – “for as long as it takes”.
I agree. But Gaetz isn’t exactly trustworthy either.
I know. Gaetz is too Trumpy for my tastes.
I wonder if McCarthy has since deleted his “Bring it on” post on “X”.
Maybe this will make a difference for Ukraine and Peace. Oh who am I kidding? Whoever replaces him will be just another bloodthirsty spokesperson of the military industrial complex. That’s what the real term Speaker means, short for speaker for the MIC.
There will always be money available in the USA to beat someone’s brains out. Not going to change as long as there’s a USA.
The real story underlying all of this is that the American political system is completely broken – therefore dysfunctional. That’s it.
Accused rapist ousts Speaker in morally correct move. Democrats prove they’re the party with a single mind.
Congress once again shines as an example of comity and rationality.
ROTFLMAO!!!
“Accused rapist”
Once accused there is no redemption.
The moniker then follows you forever, regardless of
I am not a fan of Gaetz’s frat boy persona, but the accusations
are meant to stifle dissent. Like Assange.
Ukraine’s Demography is a disaster and was a disaster in 2014 when the NATO war started. In 2014 when the NATO war on humanity started there were only half as many people of 20 year age than 40 year old ones.
It is no wonder then that few of younger age are seen at the front line. Ukraine literally has no young citizens to send to the frontline, they are either dead, wounded or fled Ukraine.
In 2014 when the NATO war started Ukraine’s overall population was about 40 million. Latest estimates are 18 million. In 1990 Ukraine had a population of more than 50 million people.
To keep a population steady, research shows it’s necessary to have an average of about 2.1 babies per family — known as a replacement rate. In Ukraine, fertility rates have remained under that threshold since 1990. Over the last two decades, the rate has often dropped below what experts call a “very low” fertility rate of 1.3, when a population begins to shrink at an ever increasing rate. In January 2021, a year before Russia’s full-scale invasion, the fertility rate was 1.16.
well maybe now they should elect MTG to be the speaker.
i mean really, who better? =
oh and “it was so good i almost had to smoke a cigarette afterwards”
…. accused rapist representative Matt Gaetz
you could not make this sh*t up.
https://youtu.be/VAa0b0QKo-Q?t=61
Also today:
Is ‘unwavering’ support for Ukraine starting to waver? ‘It may well be’ in US and beyond
Omnishambles. Clusterfumble. Situation normal.
a secret side deal with President Biden on Ukraine aid.
THAT is what was ousted yesterday.
Uraaaah!
Demented Biden is an Autocrat hand puppet and does as told. Which is easy on him since he was always one of them even before his dementia set in.
Most likely, nothing will change in congress the same neocons are still in charge.
“House Ousts McCarthy as Speaker – Rep. Gaetz launched the effort after accusing McCarthy of cutting a secret side deal with President Biden on Ukraine aid”
Joey Biden has a habit unintentionally of telling the truth off record. From secret side deals to eliminating the Nord Stream pipelines his statements are telling.
https://www.nbcnews.com/now/video/kevin-mccarthy-compares-putin-and-war-in-ukraine-to-hitler-and-1930s-194367045771
Ah, the old “Reductio Ad Hitlerum” argument. Works on the rubes every time. A Neoconservative staple.
The U.S. is heading toward a bad place. First the chaos, then the authoritarianism.
Gaetz seems to have won this effort by giving Democrats what they wanted… to remove McCarthy. Was that because McCarthy kept Ukraine aid out of the debt ceiling deal in the first place? Is there silent opposition among Democrats to the war (He can’t very well keep a secret deal with Biden if he’s gone.) Do they think it will be easier to work with 𝘢𝘯𝘺𝘣𝘰𝘥𝘺 else? Do they not understand the implications? All of the above?
I have a hunch that this was a lot more complicated than it seems.