If California GOP Rep. Kevin McCarthy wants to do some hard soul-searching and figure out why he’s really no longer the speaker of the House, perhaps he should take stock of the fact that he’s now carping about it to the chief congressional correspondent of a cable news network that did everything in its power to paint him and his party as if they were extremists and enemies of the common good.
Granted, McCarthy can whinge about his downfall to whoever he wants now that he’s reluctantly handed over the gavel to its current holder, the considerably more conservative Rep. Mike Johnson of Louisiana.
However, when he’s doing it on CNN — presumably for the benefit of CNN’s audience of reality-challenged bourgeoise organic-produce lefties who consider Republicans a kind of moral pesticide and who can all gasp at the craven horror House conservatives plan to visit upon America, like budget cuts and border security — it isn’t difficult to figure out why, after a difficult battle to win the speaker’s gavel in the first place, he now finds himself an ordinary back-bencher.
In the clip from McCarthy’s interview with CNN’s Manu Raju which aired on Thursday — you can see the full interview on the network’s “Inside Politics” on Sunday morning, assuming you don’t have church services or Thanksgiving shopping or sock-washing or literally anything better to do — the former speaker slammed the “crazy eight” Republicans who refused to back him in a motion to vacate.
In particular, he zeroed in on South Carolina Rep. Nancy Mace, a surprise vote against McCarthy given that the Palmetto State representative was seen as among the more moderate elements of the party. (As the Washington Examiner noted, Mace had once been one of McCarthy’s allies but decided it was time to go when he refused to bring up legislation he’d pledged to.)
“I mean, if you’ve watched her, just her philosophy and the flip-flopping,” McCarthy said.
“I don’t believe she wins reelection. I don’t think she’ll probably have earned the right to get re-elected.”
According to a CNN transcript, Mace told the network that “we have moved on to a much better speaker who is honest and trustworthy.”
As for Rep. Matt Gaetz of Florida, who led the effort to have McCarthy ousted and had been one of his biggest critics from the get-go, the former speaker said he should also get the boot from voters, adding the party would benefit “tremendously” if he wasn’t in it.
Should there be consequences for Gaetz from the GOP?
Yes: 0% (0 Votes)
No: 0% (0 Votes)
“People have to earn the right to be here,” McCarthy told Raju. “And I just think from — I mean he’ll admit to you personally, is he doesn’t have a conservative bent in his philosophy.”
People have to earn the right to be here … and Gaetz or Mace haven’t earned the right to be in Congress because they had the gall to believe McCarthy had to earn the right to be in the speaker’s chair. You work that one out, because that bit of logic has me a bit dizzy.
(As for Gaetz, he told CNN that McCarthy had his “thoughts and prayers” as “he works through his grief” — said, no doubt, through the straightest of faces.)
As for the possibility of expelling Gaetz from the House Republican Conference, which has been floated as a possibility, McCarthy said that was up to GOP representatives, but that “I don’t believe the conference will ever heal if there are no consequences for the actions.”
Regarding Mace and another surprise vote against McCarthy, Tennessee Rep. Tim Burchett, the former speaker told Raju that both had “changed” since they got elected and “care a lot more about press than about policy.”
New — Spoke to Kevin McCarthy. Had some choice words for “crazy eight” Rs. Said GOP won’t “ever heal” unless there are “consequences”
Said GOP would benefit “tremendously” if Gaetz wasn’t in House.
And says Nancy Mace doesn’t deserve to win reelect.
Full intvw: 11aET Sunday pic.twitter.com/7xCBKi5HjL
— Manu Raju (@mkraju) November 9, 2023
For his part, Burchett probably came closest to the reality of the situation when he said McCarthy was a “bitter” man going through the motions before he becomes a professional former Republican, a role RINOs like former Arizona Sen. Jeff Flake and Ohio Gov. John Kasich have managed to turn into quite lucrative careers.
“[McCarthy’s] angry and I’m sure he’ll be angry for the rest of his life, but I always, when people do something like he did I always wonder why they don’t look at themselves,” Burchett told CNN. “It’s always that they’re gonna blame somebody else.”
“He’ll enter into a successful job in lobbying,” Burchett added.
Either that, or he can get CNN and MSNBC into a bidding war for his services, where he can appear on various shows as Not That Kind of Republican™ who claims to espouse real conservative values while everyone else with an R after their name and an actual elected position has gone insane.
This grift has gone on for decades now — and there’s no reason for the former speaker not to milk it, considering it shows no sign of abating. If you want to watch his full demo reel, be sure to watch “Inside Politics” this Sunday. Or not. Rest assured, you’re going to get plenty of whatever bitterness he’s going to be peddling this weekend in the months and years to come.
