Apparently little birdies are talking to Donald Trump. He managed to come up with the name Fred Upton in connection with the House speakership. It was initially thought that Matt Gaetz and others were alluding to a mystery GOPer who might take the gavel in January in order to mess with Kevin McCarthy.
And that still may be the case.
But whatever is really going on, Trump is on Truth Social talking about Fred Upton, whose resignation after 18 terms in Congress, he was instrumental in bringing about. Upton was one of ten representatives who voted to impeach Trump and so for that Trump went on the warpath then and he’s going on it now.
Upton, as you may recall, received death threats, as did all ten reps who voted to impeach Trump. He made a decision to resign, as did Anthony Gonzalez, (OH-R) and Adam Kinzinger, for the same reasons. The death threats weren’t limited to him, they were limited to his family.
And they kept coming. When he voted on the infrastructure bill, more MAGA lunacy came his way. This is what that sounds like.
Kinzinger and Gonzalez got the same.
And Marge Greene is responsible for this. Upton told the Detroit News that the calls started after Greene publicly posted the names and phone numbers of Upton and a dozen other GOP House members who voted in support of the infrastructure bill, calling them “traitors.”
It’s no wonder that this was too toxic for Upton.
But could Upton come back as House Speaker, in lieu of Kevin McCarthy? That would be interesting. Upton is not a MAGA, that much is plain. In all truth, he would probably be a better choice for Speaker than a lot of people, McCarthy included.
But would the MAGA right-wing fringe ever want somebody who voted to impeach Donald Trump to lead the House? Seems counter intuitive, seems downright odd, but Trump didn’t pull this from the air. He’s worked up over it. Somehow he believes that this is a possibility or he wouldn’t be denouncing it. Trump said, “A very dangerous game is being played.” Maybe that “game” is the GOP caucus seriously considering asking Fred Upton to stick around.
Very, very strange. But if we’ve learned one thing in the Trump years, it’s that what seems strange and unbelievable, even, is frequently what happens next.
When things turn weird…the weird turn pro. Hunter S. Thompson
It’s cute how MAGA thinks it has a say in any of this. They suspect what I do…that it’s going to be Dems and the few sane Republicans left (or, as MAGA would call the latter, RINOs) in the driver’s seat rather than them under this arrangement. Remember, you need 218 votes to make Speaker, McCarthy can only currently get 188 for sure and 5 to 20 votes against him. The Dems have a big enough bloc to need just a sliver of Republican congress critters to pull an inside straight for Upton or whoever they want.