Kevin McCarthy was he was unaware that he would lose his bid to become Speaker of the House of Representatives in the first round, three people with knowledge of the matter told the state. Rolling Stone. What I had not predicted in private was that he was going to stay on the pulse for a whole week. “Knowing that he was going to get fucked – he just didn’t know that he was going to get fucked this often, or this hard,” explained one congressional aide.
Among the major factors in McCarthy losing more than a dozen speaker votes, people familiar with the matter say, was the severity of Florida Rep. Matt Gaetz’s hostility toward the Republican leader. Gaetz’s intense and personal dislike of McCarthy has been an open secret in Washington political circles for years, so much so that Gaetz and McCarthy’s colleagues don’t even claim it’s a “secret.”
But Gaetz’s hatred morphed into something stronger after it was revealed in early 2021 that MAGA had been the target of a federal investigation into a minor in sex trafficking. (No charges have been filed against Gaetz, but after Joel Greenberg was sentenced to 11 years in prison for his “enthusiasm,” McCarthy, in Gaetz’s opinion, was unable to mount a strong enough defense for himself. According to two sources familiar with the case, Gaetz is furious at McCarthy for a lack of support perceived ever since—despite the fact that McCarthy did not rob him of any commissions to track him down.
The animosity between the two Republicans on the floor of the House during the 14th vote on Friday night, which McCarthy had thrown, finally gave him the upper hand to get the pleasure of the speaker. Gaetz put himself in the middle of the drama. Turn called for his vote in alphabetical order, raising himself at the end of the voting process. With McCarthy needing one more vote, Gaetz voted “present” instead – leaving McCarthy with 50 percent of the vote, a hair’s breadth away from victory. McCarthy went up to Gaetz on the House floor, and the enemies had a heated exchange that didn’t change the whole thing. McCarthy was suspended again. (Gaetz again voted “present” with other rebels Never Kevin in the 15th vote that finally gave McCarthy the gavel.
The original source Rep. Gaetz’s keen hatred of McCarthy is less famous. Rolling Stone I contacted members of Congress, sources on Capitol Hill, and activists in conservative organizations to ask what the root cause was. Everyone just knew Gaetz hated the GOP House Leader. One Republican who knows both Gaetz and McCarthy says he even once asked him why Gaetz hated him so much. McCarthy recalls this principle by replying: “I don’t know.”
Gaetz’s hostility toward McCarthy was on display throughout the week, as he stood by to name-drop speeches for both Jim Jordan and Donald Trump. “Maybe it’s not the right speaker of the house who wants it to be so bad,” Gaetz said when naming Jordan. “Perhaps the right person is not the speaker of the house to own it for more than a decade.”
“We must restore to the office of Speaker the very person who should be in the Office of Speaker, but is not. squatter who is in the present,” he added, later naming Trump. “And if the Architect of the Capitol is listening — I” he sent the letterand I would like to know what is the reason for obtaining someone in the office of Speaker, who comes in the second place ten consecutive times? Is there any similar basis in law or rule or precedent for that?
Both were nominated by Gaetz and worked to drum up votes for McCarthy. Jim Jordan named McCarthy on the floor for a heated speech. Meanwhile, Trump issued a call on Social Truth for Republicans to bring McCarthy back. Both the president and his eldest son, Donald Trump Jr., have also made phone calls in recent days to GOP members of Congress in support of McCarthy, two sources familiar with the matter say. The previous president’s recent beating of McCarthy was described by one person with direct knowledge of one of the “failing” statements.
Asked to comment on reports that he despises McCarthy — and that McCarthy’s hatred grew as he aggressively stood up for himself on six charges — Gaetz did not deny the job. But they showed it Rolling Stone to a TV interview on Thursday in which the congressman said that he would not vote for McCarthy “under almost any circumstance”, while his motivation was immediate principle, not personal.
“Kevin McCarthy is the masthead of the nuclear lobby,” Gaetz told Fox News’ Laura Ingraham when asked point blank if the animosity against McCarthy was personal. “I am appalled at the extent to which Kevin McCarthy will use lobbyists and special interests to dictate how political decisions are made, how policy decisions are made, and how leadership decisions are made. Kevin McCarthy has been a leader for 14 years and has sold his own shares to political parties committed to his activities. Therefore, I do not think it is a suitable choice.
McCarthy’s office did not respond to a request for comment.
On Friday afternoon, McCarthy announced that his opponents, less intense toward him, were ready to accept his concessions, give up McCarthy’s position, and allow the House to begin its business. Fourteen of them changed their vote to McCarthy on the 12th ballot, with another pacing Andy Harris on the 14th. McCarthy insisted he had the votes during a speech Friday night. Gaetzius seemed to recognize the inevitable as well. “I think the house is in a much better place with some work that has been done to popularize power from the floor.” he said. “And this is our purpose.”
