Kevin, The Call is Coming from Inside The Penthouse

Now that Kevin McCarthy has completely surrendered his caucus to a conspiracy theorist, an accused sex trafficker, and a proven loser president, Republican members are not shy about making their feelings known.

“You know the Republican Party dumpster fire has reached new heights when even Kevin McCarthy’s own members are calling him out for his inability to lead, having no moral compass, and lack of backbone. It should come as no surprise that it’s bad politics to hand over your caucus to extremists like Marjorie Taylor Greene and Matt Gaetz while punishing members for telling the truth, but then again, there is no Dr. Seuss book on the subject.” – DNC Spokesperson Adonna Biel

POLITICO Playbook: Could McCarthy face a Cheney backlash?

  • “GRUMBLING WITH MCCARTHY BEHIND THE SCENES — Taking out Cheney (R-Wyo.) as conference chair was never going to be clean and easy for McCarthy. And this week, we’re starting to pick up on a bit of backlash against the minority leader behind the scenes. Some House Republicans are privately griping about how the California Republican has fed a colleague to the MAGA wolves in his quest to become speaker.”

  • “One of them — a Republican long seen as an ally of leadership — told us Monday night he may oppose McCarthy for speaker because of all the recent drama. This person accused McCarthy of having no moral compass as he moves to punish Cheney while allowing members like Reps. MARJORIE TAYLOR GREENE (R-Ga.) and MATT GAETZ (R-Fla.) to run wild.”

  • “‘Kevin McCarthy has pissed off enough members of his own conference that he’s going to have to go back to his former days as a whip to try to figure out where his votes are’ to become speaker, said the member, who is neither a member of the Freedom Caucus nor a moderate. ‘I’d be worried if I was him. … You have people like me — who are here to do the right thing for all the right reasons and have an expectation of leadership — that are, shall we say, disgusted with the internal squabbling that results from having weak leadership. And it is weak leadership. Straight up.’”

  • “A senior GOP aide to a conservative member put it this way: ‘He’s flip-flopped on [Jan. 6 and whether it’s] Trump’s fault, it’s not Trump’s fault. … It seems like he doesn’t have the backbone to lead. He bends to political pressure. It’s tough to do when you’re speaker. You have to lead.’”
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