“Expectations are at rock-bottom among House Republicans that their civil war will be resolved by the speaker vote on Wednesday,” Axiosreports.
“Some moderates are threatening to tank any speaker if the rules aren’t changed to protect future speakers from single-member motions to vacate. That’s a deal breaker for conservatives.”
“Some conservatives are threatening to tank any speaker who’d support aid for Ukraine, or who wouldn’t push along an impeachment vote on President Biden. That’s a deal breaker for some moderates.”
“And some Republicans just have old scores to settle.”
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“Republicans couldn’t save Kevin McCarthy, but some are hoping to avenge him. They spent much of Wednesday promising to strike back against Rep. Matt Gaetz (R-FL)and the seven other GOP rebels who ousted the speaker on Tuesday,” Semafor reports.
Said Rep. Garret Graves (R-LA) “I think Matt would be a great dictator in a small island nation in the Pacific or something, that’s probably the best next step for him. I do think there should be repercussions.”
CNN: House devolves into angry round of retribution following McCarthy’s ouster.
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Jonathan Chait: “The last three decades have seen an endless succession of coups, scandals, and humiliations, at times reducing the position of Speaker of the House to a hollowed-out title hardly anybody of note even wanted to claim. By this point, the rituals of plotting and counterplotting are so deeply ingrained that every new Republican Speaker is greeted with built-in opposition and ready speculation as to who will take over as the next Speaker after the newly inaugurated one is inevitably deposed.”
“The congressional Republican fratricide era began with the rise of Newt Gingrich (more on him shortly). But its intellectual roots stretch back to the early 1960s, when the upstart conservative movement first crawled out of the primordial ooze and set out to seize control of the party.”
Nancy Mace is catching flak from some Republicans back in S.C. over her vote to remove MacCarthy as Speaker.