With Republicans about to face high noon in the vote for a new speaker of the House, and GOP leader Kevin McCarthy shy of the 218 votes needed, there is a concerted effort underway to turn the screws on the holdouts in the party.
There is a Gang of Five, known as the “Never Kevin” cabal, resisting McCarthy as the next speaker and with Republicans holding a slim four-seat majority in the U.S. House of Representatives, that’s more than enough to gum up the works. But there are reportedly other Republican lawmakers vowing not to vote for McCarthy — their main point of contention is that he represents the status quo in a broken Congress that’s failing the American people.
U.S. Rep. Dan Crenshaw, R-Texas, is not among the holdouts and he blasted those in the party trying to drive desperately needed change in Washington, D.C., where self-serving politicians have America on a fast track to bankruptcy and ruin, and even questioned their true motivations.
(Video: Fox News)
“Look, you’ve got these members — you just showed who they are. No one knows what their goal is, they say their goal they say is some noble cause — the cause of conservatism, for the people, or holding the swamp accountable, these are phrases they will use to make themselves seem like they are white knights out there to save you,” Crenshaw said on “Fox & Friends” Tuesday. “Of course, none of this is true. None of this is true whatsoever. This is truly a play for more airtime and they are getting it.”
The Fox News morning crew seemed to be in agreement with the smug assessment before the former Navy SEAL got personal and slammed the holdouts as “petty” nobodies.
He named U.S. Rep. Bob Good, R-Va., a member of the Gang of Five, claiming that Good’s reason for opposing McCarthy is that the GOP leader took three weeks to call him after his win.
“Some of the reasons that these people have for not voting for McCarthy are unbelievably petty. Unbelievable petty,” Crenshaw said. “This is about showmanship, this is about notoriety. It has nothing to do with the conservative agenda. I would love for them to at least come out once and say, ‘Look, we disagree with Kevin McCarthy and the rest of the Republicans. We have policy disagreements and we won’t vote for you until you prioritize the policies that we think would be better for the American people.’ Have they said anything like that? Not once, not once!”
U.S. Rep. Matt Gaetz, R-Fla., one of the five, was specific in his opposition, citing the funding of Ukraine and McCarthy’s opposition to legislation that would break up companies like Amazon and Apple, among other things.
“Every single Republican in Congress knows that Kevin does not actually believe anything. He has no ideology,” Gaetz wrote in a scathing op-ed. “Some conservatives are using this fact to convince themselves that he is the right leader for the moment, as McCarthy is so weak he’ll promise anything to anyone. As his mentor recently confessed, ‘He lies. He’ll change the lie if necessary.’”
Fox News cohost Ainsley Earhardt chimed in to say that it’s only day one and Republicans are already disagreeing with each other.
“It is a shame. It makes us look foolish. If I didn’t know any better, it’s like the Democrats paid these people off,” Crenshaw said, drawing a chuckle from the “Fox & Friends” morning crew. “Let’s pay them off. Let’s make it look like the Republicans can’t govern and don’t deserve any gavels whatsoever. That is what makes it look like.”
The Texas lawmaker dismissed the priorities of those opposing McCarthy as “foolish,” claiming that they are demanding things the average American “doesn’t care about at all.”
“The average American cares about defunding 87,000 IRS agents. That’s actually what will be on the floor today if McCarthy gets 218. Then, we can actually start doing business,” Crenshaw said. “That is the first bill we will vote on. You know what will be after that? It will be bills on border security. It will be bills on getting our economy more resilient in reducing inflation. It will be the things people actually care about.”
The comment is rather deceptive in that the Democrats control the Senate and the bills he mentioned are not likely to go anywhere — the former SEAL was also being disingenuous about the agenda being pursued by the holdouts, suggesting it begins and ends with preventing McCarthy from being speaker.
“I don’t know where this group is getting this idea that this is important to the American people or important to the conservative moment. It simply is not,” Crenshaw said. “They don’t even have ideological disagreements with Kevin McCarthy. This is about petty, personal issues that they have, or petty attempts to gain notoriety. And it is unbelievably frustrating and they should be held accountable by the American people.”
Cohost Steve Doocy referred to the holdouts as “renegade Republicans,” commiserating with his guest by claiming that “there’s no plan” because they don’t have a viable alternative. The strategy being employed appears to be in denying McCarthy 218 votes that the caucus will accept that he cannot be elected speaker and soon rally around another member.
Crenshaw smugly dismissed them as being little more than “children,” acting a bit like a child himself while claiming the whole effort is just so they can get “one more interview.”
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Tom Tillison grew up in Maryland before moving to Central Florida as a young teen. It is in the Sunshine State that he honed both his passion for politics and his writing skills. Tillison also contributes to BizPac Review.
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