Who do you suppose Republicans trust more than Kevin McCarthy?
As the House chamber patiently waited for Kevin McCarthy to be rejected in his bid for the Speaker’s gavel for a second time, Arizona Republican Rep. Paul Gosar was spotted talking to progressive hero Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-NY).
This sent tongues wagging because it wasn’t that long ago that he was censured for posting an anime depicting himself killing a giant monster with the face of AOC. Ah, Republicans.
Gosar was chatting with AOC to find out if McCarthy had misled the Republican conference, according to AOC.
“On her floor convo with Rep. Gosar earlier, AOC tells me that McCarthy made claims within the GOP conf. that some Ds would walk away to lower the threshold. Gosar was asking AOC for clarification — would she walk away? “We would never do that,” AOC told me. Jeffries all the way,” Gabe Ferris of ABC reported.
On her floor convo with Rep. Gosar earlier, AOC tells me that McCarthy made claims within the GOP conf. that some Ds would walk away to lower the threshold. Gosar was asking AOC for clarification — would she walk away? “We would never do that,” AOC told me. Jeffries all the way. pic.twitter.com/yDsbJjFIPU
— Gabe Ferris (@GabeFerris) January 3, 2023
According to the Democrat from New York, Gosar wanted to find out if McCarthy was telling the truth that Democrats would leave to lower the threshold so he would have a better chance of pulling out a miracle win for himself.
As it stood, Democratic House Leader Hakeem Jeffries had the lead in the vote, with the Republican caucus splitting its vote.
A spokesperson for Gosar told Fox News digital, “Paul was sharing with AOC that the combustion engine was actually a miracle of engineering that people take for granted today.”
Which of these two stories seems most likely? Yeah, same.
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Plus, I’m willing to bet the expression on AOC’s face would be very different if Gosar were mansplaining engines to her.
It is unsurprising that McCarthy might have told Republicans that Democrats would do something to help him. He, after all, knew that Trump incited the 1/6 attack but then quickly pivoted to defending domestic terrorists as heroes. McCarthy’s capacity for self-delusion should not be underestimated.
What is surprising here is that Gosar would believe AOC over McCarthy. And if this conversation went down as AOC reported, then she told Gosar the truth, which is more than McCarthy did.
While Gosar and AOC are on opposing ends on most policies, this moment is one for the ages.
McCarthy went on to be rejected a second and third time before members called it a night. The last time the House failed to elect a speaker on the first ballot was 1923. As of today, the House failed to elect a speaker on the first, second and third ballot.
The Republican Party is making history for the wrong reasons, yet again.
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Sarah has been credentialed to cover President Barack Obama, then VP Joe Biden, 2016 Democratic presidential candidate Hillary Clinton, and exclusively interviewed Speaker Nancy Pelosi multiple times and exclusively covered her first home appearance after the first impeachment of then President Donald Trump.
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