Gaetz Nominates Trump For Speaker of the House, Rails Against ‘Squatter’ McCarthy in Barn Burner Speech
Rep. Matt Gaetz (R-FL), one of the leaders of the anti-McCarthy movement in House GOP rose on Thursday evening to nominate former President Donald Trump for House speaker and blasted Kevin McCarthy as a “squatter” who needed to be booted from the speaker’s office. McCarthy had moved into the speaker’s office ahead of his first failed vote on Tuesday to secure the speakership.
The vote marked the 11th time the House tried to elect a speaker, which hasn’t happened since 1859.
“Taxes were cut, regulations were slashed, energy was abundant, wages were rising, capital was returning from overseas to fund the dreams and ambitions of our fellow Americans, and the economy was roaring,” Gaetz began in his speech, recalling what he claimed were the achievements of Trump’s time in office.
“What a contrast to what we have seen from this administration now. And so I rise to nominate Donald Trump for the position of Speaker of the House and for all of the vitriol that we hear from the media. And at times the left. There were great moments of bipartisanship under the Trump presidency,” Gaetz continued, adding:
And the Democrat nominee for speaker knows that well, because he led valiantly on the efforts for criminal justice reform. And I was honored to join him. And I know no matter who’s sitting in that speaker chair, we’ve got a lot of work to do on that very issue.
We took a first step, but there is a second step and a third step to take. And I’m glad that we were able to work with President Trump, with Republicans and with Democrats to provide real outcomes for Americans to create greater prosperity and more opportunity. I also care deeply about President Trump’s focus on our nation’s veterans.
Gaetz continued listing off what he claimed were Trump’s accomplishments as a heckler yelled, “He tried to overthrow the government.”
Gaetz paused as the House was put back in order.
“This government for far too long has been deeply corrupt. This town has been deeply corrupt. The way people get leadership positions and chairmanships and opportunities to be able to morally preen has been by accepting lobbyists and special interest money and redistributing that money as currency for favors. And that is not a criticism of either political party. It is a criticism of what we have allowed to happen in this place,” Gaetz added as his speech continued, concluding:
And if we just go next man up on our side of the aisle, we will reify that corrupt system and we will abandon the people who are expecting us to fight for them. I have heard from my colleagues about all the important work we have to do, and it is my sincere fear that if we were to allow Mr. McCarthy to assume the speakership, that would not get done, that it would be business as usual. And the very same things that have paralyzed progress for both parties would continue to shackle us to never ending failure. We can be better than that.
We can raise our gaze. Indeed. We also have to restore to the speaker’s office an actual person that ought to be in the speaker’s office, not the squatter who is currently there. And if the architect of the capital is listening. I sent a letter and I would like to know what the basis is to allow somebody to occupy the speaker’s office who comes in second place ten straight times. Is there like some basis in law or rule or precedent for that? And so I nominate President Trump because we must make our country great again. And he could start by making the House of Representatives great again.
Watch the full clip above via CNN
