Kevin McCarthy had an oops moment, when he was caught on an open mic talking about Liz Cheney, “I think she’s got real problems,” McCarthy told Steve Doocy off-air ahead of a live “Fox and Friends” interview. “I’ve had it with … I’ve had it with her. You know, I’ve lost confidence. … Well, someone just has to bring a motion, but I assume that will probably take place.”
Poor Kevin. He’s tryna stay in Trump’s good graces, red and pink Starbursts , pilgrimages to Mar-a-Lago and all, and he’s tryna keep his conference from going any farther off the rails — and that ain’t easy when you’ve got Lauren Boebert and Marjorie Taylor Greene on board, let alone Matt Gaetz. Don’t even talk about him. And it just keeps getting tougher every day.
Now the fact is that Kevin’s got to do something. He’s finally been pushed into a corner, and it’s not just because of Cheney’s last tweet to Trump on Monday, about how he was poisoning democracy, and his lash back to her, that she’s a “big shot warmonger” and the people of Wyoming “never liked her much.” (She won the last two elections with over 68% of the vote, just for the record.) No, there’s a much bigger reason McCarthy wants Cheney gone and it involves covering his own. Politico:
So what was McCarthy’s final straw? It’s a question that plenty of Republicans are asking privately right now, given that multiple sources say he’s done with her. Two theories on this are making the rounds:
— One is that Cheney’s rebuke of Trump during the GOP retreat last week — delivered in front of other rank-and-file members at a press conference — sent many Republicans over the edge. In the background of the media avail, you could see Reps. DREW FERGUSON (Ga.), RICHARD HUDSON (N.C.) and MIKE JOHNSON (La.) all awkwardly standing there as she upbraided the former president.
— The other theory is a bit more interesting: You might have missed it, but last week Cheney seemed to endorse the idea of a 9/11-style commission to investigate Jan. 6. Her move came after Speaker NANCY PELOSI agreed to give equal subpoena power and representation to both parties. McCarthy has been notably holding out on making a deal, pushing Pelosi to expand the probe to include extremism on the left, too.
The reality is that any bipartisan commission on Jan. 6 would almost certainly include a subpoena of McCarthy, whose call with Trump will become a central focus of any investigation. That would put McCarthy in a tough spot, forced to recount on record things Trump may not want out there. Some Republicans believe Cheney’s endorsement of the commission — undercutting McCarthy’s position — put him over the edge.
The second idea is by far the more plausible. McCarthy doesn’t want any scrutiny placed on the phone call between himself and Trump the day of the Capitol riot. The more he can deflect from that the better. And the 911-style commission would do just the opposite, it would focus on this level of detail and to McCarthy’s detriment.
The oldest adage in politics is probably follow the money. But the second oldest would be, the name of the game is staying in the game. And McCarthy knows it could hurt his game irreparably if too much attention is paid to the day of the riot. Like Mike Pence, Roger Marshall, so many of them, he just wants January 6 to go away.
But make no mistake, McCarthy is not thrilled with this turn of events. When and if the GOP cuts loose Liz Cheney, it will be a watershed moment. It will define that the GOP is now the party of Trump, Trumpism in any event. On the other hand, if there’s a secret ballot next week and Cheney remains in power, then that will be the handwriting on the wall that Cheney will probably be the Speaker the next time the Republicans are in power in the House.
And it says one hell of a lot about the current state of affairs in the Republican party that policy statement level votes like this need to be done in secret, because everybody is so scared.
” policy statement level votes like this need to be done in secret, because everybody is so scared.”
Of the two time popular vote loser, and twice impeached, one term serving, loser of both houses of congress; because they’ve got no-one better.
And with no policies other than racism and give to the rich, they wonder why their electoral support has collapsed.
Venal stupidity is their god.