Matt Gaetz, the perpetual chaos agent, is very upset. Congress is not working. The Democrats have the spotlight. But he knows who might be able to fix it: Kevin McCarthy.
Last night, three House Republicans joined Democrats to vote against impeaching Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas — and Rep. Al Green (D-TX) left his hospital bed to cast the vote from a wheelchair that officially blocked the House GOP from performatively impeaching the Biden administration official to secure a few more 2024 campaign trail talking points.
And suddenly Rep. Matt Gaetz (R-FL) is having regrets.
The far-right House Freedom Caucus member responsible for House Speaker Kevin McCarthy’s (R-CA) House floor shivving — reportedly, due primarily to a personal vendetta — lamented the Mayorkas failure during a conversation with Eric Bolling on Newsmax Tuesday night. He said he missed having the former House speaker he ousted around.
“We didn’t have any of our people that were part of the 215 that had voted ‘no.’ … So, trust me, Blake Moore wants Mayorkas impeached,” Gaetz said, referencing a fourth Republican who later changed his vote to “no” so that the impeachment articles could be brought up again later.
“As I’m watching that board and it’s 215 to 215, I have never missed George Santos more,” Gaetz said. “I also wondered like, wouldn’t it have been nice to still have Kevin McCarthy in the House of Representatives?”
“Never thought you’d hear me say that,” he added, trollishly.
McCarthy, of course, resigned from Congress in December after announcing his retirement, fueled by the political shellacking Gaetz and seven other House Republicans put him through this fall. His departure was just one of a few others that has put House Republicans at the helm of one of the thinnest House majorities on record.
Gaetz went on to complain that McCarthy left Congress — “took his marbles and went home” — after Gaetz ruined his political career, rather than sticking around to make it a little easier for Gaetz et al. to continue hijacking legislating for political point scoring.
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