On Meet The Press, Rep. Kevin McCarthy (R-CA) got called out for falsely blaming Democrats for his firing as Speaker of the House as his bogus reasoning crumbled under questioning.
On Meet The Press, Kristen Welker asked McCarthy, “I want to ask, I hear you invoking Democrats and why the reality that Republicans control the House. Does this not come down to Matt Gaetz ultimately moving to oust you and therefore, do you bear some responsibility for this, Mr. Speaker, for agreeing to give him the deal in the first place to be able to remove you with just one vote?”
McCarthy answered:
That deal has been with every speaker in the House. The only person who changed it is Nancy Pelosi, but no other party — I had the power to make this motion against Nancy Pelosi, but I never did, because I believe in the institution of the House. All of the other Democrat leaders believe they never should be able to raise this issue. Remember, as we go forward in the next decade, if the majority changes, no one’s going to have a big majority. So what Hakeem Jeffries has just done changed the institution to say it’s okay to always make a motion to try to shut down one branch of government. —
…
From my perspective, what Matt Gaetz has done here, think about this, he has chosen with no plan concerned about an ethics complaint that was against him in the last congress to try to go and move and shut it down. This is the wrong approach. It’s brought chaos. The Democrats went along with it and they have blame, too, but I would sit back. I’ll take whatever blame needed, but if the blame is on me for keeping government open and voting for the troops I would do that again tomorrow.
Video:
Kristen Welker pushes back on McCarthy blaming Democrats for his ouster, “Does this not come down to Matt Gaetz moving to oust you and, do you bear some responsibility for this for agreeing to give him the deal in the first place to be able to remove you with just one vote?” pic.twitter.com/Up4HHIGVuu
— Sarah Reese Jones (@PoliticusSarah) October 22, 2023
A single individual member has not in modern memory had the power to bring a motion to vacate to the floor for a vote until McCarthy gave that power to Gaetz and others. McCarthy never brought the motion against Pelosi because he was in the minority, and the motion would have lost.
Kevin McCarthy’s reasoning for why he blames Democrats is absurd. McCarthy had done nothing but antagonize Democrats to try to keep favor with Gaetz and MAGA. Given those circumstances, there was no way that Democrats would ever save McCarthy.
After listening to Kevin McCarthy blame Democrats for his firing, it is about time somebody in the press pointed out that McCarthy did this to himself.
Jason is the managing editor. He is also a White House Press Pool and a Congressional correspondent for PoliticusUSA. Jason has a Bachelor’s Degree in Political Science. His graduate work focused on public policy, with a specialization in social reform movements.
Awards and Professional Memberships
Member of the Society of Professional Journalists and The American Political Science Association
