Matt Gaetz Tries to Recruit House Democrats To Topple Kevin McCarthy As Speaker: ‘Asking For (Many) Friends!’
Rep. Matt Gaetz (R-FL) took his threats against Speaker Kevin McCarthy (R-CA) in a new direction over the weekend as he tried to recruit Democrats to his cause.
“Hi, Eric. If I make a motion to remove Kevin, how may democrat votes can I count on? Asking for a friend….” Gaetz wrote on Twitter Saturday in reply to a jab from Rep. Eric Swalwell (D-CA).
Swalwell retweeted Gaetz slamming segment from Fox & Friends late last week, in which co-host Brian Kilmeade roasted Gaetz for his continued threat to remove McCarthy as House speaker.
“I’ve never seen a colleague make more empty threats — day in/day out than this guy. Gaetz folded like a cheap card table to make McCarthy speaker and will never — I repeat never — make a motion to remove McCarthy. I do not work with serious people,” Swalwell wrote in response to Gaetz.
On Sunday, Gaetz continued his saber-rattling in another tweet directed at Swalwell. “If Democrats are willing to remove Kevin McCarthy, we can easily pluck out 8-10 GOP reps minimum who’ll join. That’d be great,” wrote a Twitter user.
Gaetz replied to that tweet, writing, “Quite easily, actually. Are all Democrats so willing, @ericswalwell?”
“Will my NorCal twitter troll have the courage and efficacy to become my dem whip?? If I’ll work with @aoc to ban congressional stock trading I’ll absolutely work with @ericswalwell to rid the House of ineffective leadership. How many votes can you deliver against a Motion to Table a Motion to Vacate, eric? Asking for (many) friends!” Gaetz added.
Gaetz made headlines last week as well for raising the prospect of removing McCarthy if the speaker doesn’t move forward with an impeachment inquiry into President Joe Biden.
“I worked very hard in January to develop a toolkit for House Republicans to use in a productive and positive way. I don’t believe we’ve used those tools as effectively as we should have,” Gaetz told conservative radio host Todd Starnes last Tuesday. Gaetz forced the vote for House speaker to go a historic 15 rounds, which resulted in McCarthy conceding to allow for a one-member call to force a vote on vacating the speaker – the threshold had previously been five members.
“That means forcing votes on impeachment. And if Speaker McCarthy stands in our way, he may not have the job long,” Gaetz concluded with Starnes. Gaetz’s latest outreach to Democrats is likely nothing more than his regular bombast, but does highlight both the slim majority the GOP has in the House and the divisions among House Republicans regarding an impeachment inquiry.
