Representative Matt Gaetz pulled off one of the biggest power moves in modern U.S. politics when he successfully led the effort to oust Kevin McCarthy as Speaker of the House this week, and experts weighed in with Newsweek about whether (or not) they think it was a good idea.

After months of threatening to remove McCarthy, Gaetz finally played his trump card against his longtime rival, introducing a motion to vacate on Monday. When the House voted on Tuesday, Gaetz secured the votes of seven other Republicans and all of the House Democrats to officially push McCarthy out of his leadership position.

“You all know Matt Gaetz. You all know it was personal,” McCarthy told reporters after the vote. “It was all about getting attention from you.”

The historic vote had been largely seen as the culmination of the brewing animosity Gaetz showed for McCarthy and some had questioned what would happen to Gaetz should he finally force a vote only to fail at ousting McCarthy. But now that the Florida congressman has succeeded, it begs the question as to whether the power move is enough to catapult him from conservative firebrand to leading voice of the House GOP, or if it will make him a pariah in his own caucus.

Republican strategist Alex Patton told Newsweek that the motion to vacate was a smart move for Gaetz should he want to pursue another political office that may come with more influence and power.

“Gaetz just became the early frontrunner for Florida’s Governor’s race in two years,” Patton said. "We are likely to have a multi-candidate GOP field and with his alignment with former President Trump, Gaetz can win with a plurality.

“His actions raised his national profile, his small-dollar donations, and makes him the frontrunner for 2026 election in Florida Governor’s race,” he said. “It’s clear he doesn’t value being a Member of Congress and working towards legislating; he clearly has other plans.”

But political scientist Gregory Koger pointed out that Gaetz is still a member of Congress until his term is up in 2025. So, his actions to throw the House into disarray and to thrust Republican infighting into the national spotlight could be detrimental to the next couple of years in his political future.

“Gaetz may have taken down the Speaker of the U.S. House, but in doing so jeopardized his own future,” Koger told Newsweek. “He is now facing efforts from within and without Congress to expel him from the House Republican Conference.”

Fed up with Gaetz’s antics and disruptive behavior, House Republicans have reportedly begun considering expelling Gaetz for leading the effort to eject McCarthy. Specifically, he’s earned the ire of Republicans in the Florida delegation, who have accused him of being driven by attention and campaign donations.

“Gaetz has very few friends in the conference,” Representative Carlos Gimenez told Politico. “Gaetz maybe has a couple of friends in the delegation. But I’m not one of them.”

Former House Speaker Newt Gingrich also penned a scathing op-ed on Tuesday calling for the House GOP to expel the congressman for his “childish behavior” and “anti-Republican” conduct.

“House Republicans have far more important things to do than entertain one member’s ego,” Gingrich wrote. “Gaetz has gone beyond regular drama. He is destroying the House GOP’s ability to govern and draw a sharp contrast with the policy disasters of the Biden administration.”

Republican anger could begin with small retributions for Gaetz and his staff, Koger said, but it could also snowball into a massive GOP campaign to get Gaetz primaried and replaced by another Florida Republican who falls in line with the party’s agenda.

“Narrowly speaking, it might just mean that Gaetz and his staff are no longer welcome at Republican meetings and will not receive any assistance from Republican party leaders,” Koger said. “It might also mean that the House majority formally strips him of his committee assignments, ends all assistance from the National Republican Congressional Committee (the campaign organization for House Republicans), and that they actively seek to recruit a ‘real’ Republican for the 2024 party nomination in Florida’s 1st Congressional District.”

He added that House Republicans will continue to mull over what lays ahead for Gaetz, but that because there’s no policy basis behind Gaetz’s actions, his GOP colleagues will blame him for public disapproval over the ousting of McCarthy and the subsequent confusion as the House seeks to elect a new speaker.

“Going back to the 19th century, the primary duty of House members has been to vote for the Speaker candidate nominated by their party,” Koger said. "Gaetz has not only violated that expectation but has publicly challenged a sitting Speaker of his own party, causing extreme embarrassment and chaos.

“Even with a narrow 221-212 margin of control in the U.S. House, Republicans may soon decide that they are better off without Gaetz as a member,” he said.

    • Slwh47696@lemmy.world
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      1 year ago

      No, you don’t understand, he’s just like Trump, he only had sex with that underage girl to get closer to the deep state child molesters. Unlike the Dems, he actually cares about the children

  • Meldroc@lemmy.world
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    How much do you want to bet that something juicy is about to be leaked about say… the soap opera involving Gaetz and Nestor?

    • JoBo@feddit.uk
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      Punishing McCarthy for relying on Dem votes to bypass Republicans in Congress by … relying on Dem votes to bypass Republicans in Congress, does sorta feel like a bad move. I mean, the right is fine with hypocrisy, as he well knows, but he seems to have forgotten the part about only when it benefits them.

      • meco03211@lemmy.world
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        1 year ago

        The fucker is monkey paw-ing their own hypocrisy. It benefits him and he’s Republican. Ergo it benefits Republicans. No one told him it also couldn’t hurt other Republicans. Honest mistake of hypocrisy.

  • Rapidcreek@reddthat.com
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    1 year ago

    Gaetz ended up passing off all yhe rest of the caucus from Florida. People he would need for a run for Governor.

    Child sex trafficking: Hey no problem

    Ousting Kevin McCarthy: TOO FAR MAN, TOO FAR!

  • flipht@kbin.social
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    1 year ago

    He did this to 1) score ideology points, 2) send Congress into a tailspin so they can’t pass a budget in time, so that 3) he can campaign and fundraise off of that for his run for governor of Florida.

    So yeah, seems to be working out well for him. That’s the main problem with republican ideology - their voters are all about selfishness, so the fact that this benefits him and negatively impacts the entire remainder of the country is a good thing in their minds.

    • CompostMaterial@lemmy.world
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      Here’s the funny bit. His district houses Pensacola NAS and Elgin AFB. Two major military bases which, with no working budget, will have no working civilian or contract employees. That literally thousands of people in his district he is putting out of work until a budget is passed. Idiot.

    • FuglyDuck@lemmy.world
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      It was absolutely fucking retarded.

      Which is why his base is eating it up. They’re just as or dumber than he is

        • AvaddonLFC ☄️ 🤘@lemmy.world
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          Can we not have such a narrow perception of our language? The word retard was never strictly used for people with mental disabilities. It has long been used as an alternative to foolish/dumb/stupid, and you’re not restricting it anytime soon.

    • profdc9@lemmy.world
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      The Republicans don’t govern; they engage in political theater. He is taking this to a further extreme.

  • WaxedWookie@lemmy.world
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    No.

    If there’s a question in the headline, the answer is no.

    If the question is “Is Gaetz smart, competent, likeable, or interested in fucking people older than 12”, the answer is definitely no.

  • Chozo@kbin.social
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    Smart move or not, we can rest assured that Venmo Gaetz will never stop talking about the time he ousted the speaker.

      • Chozo@kbin.social
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        Under normal circumstances, it absolutely would be.

        But after 15 ballots to get McCarthy into the position in the first place, and him only winning with the stipulation that any single member could motion to remove him, it’s not as impressive as I’m sure Kiddy Diddlin’ Matt Gaetz will pretend it is.

  • Talaraine@kbin.social
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    1 year ago

    You know, I really really try not to judge a book by its cover, but the more I hear about Gaetz the more it sinks in that I could not identify another human being that looks more like an actual devil.

  • ATDA@lemmy.world
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    Google is auto completing “who” to “who will be the next speaker of the house” for me

    That strikes me well enough that his plan has problems.

  • jordanlund@lemmy.worldM
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    Do you think he realizes he’s a single 2/3rds vote away from being kicked out of Congress?

    290 votes. There are already 212 Democrats.

    He’s hinging his future on 78 Republicans wanting to keep him…

    • glue_snorter@lemmy.sdfeu.org
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      If I were a democrat pol, I’d want to keep Gaetz, and Trump, and all the nut jobs.

      They are loved by their base and horrible to work with in the houses, but they are electorally toxic.

      Prediction for your next presidential election: Trump will still be on trial on federal charges, he will be the nominee anyway, and he will lose badly. DeSantis will bite chunks out of him. Bullish on popcorn.

      Or Trump bites chunks out of whoever they do nominate. The party either gets moderate votes, or Trump votes, or DeSantis votes, but not all three.

      • pewter@lemmy.world
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        There was a leaked strategy from the Clinton campaign to elevate her eventual Republican opponent in 2016. That didn’t work out so well.

        • glue_snorter@lemmy.sdfeu.org
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          Maybe not. But that was before he was president for four years - fuck, it’s still crazy to think that happened - and really forced people to acknowledge that yeah, he is a pathological liar who doesn’t give a shit about the country.

          A lot of people still suck on the tit. But a lot of others recognise that the hot pain comes from getting burned.

          You had all the tea party nutters for years - but none of them became president.

  • AutoTL;DR@lemmings.worldB
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    This is the best summary I could come up with:


    Representative Matt Gaetz pulled off one of the biggest power moves in modern U.S. politics when he successfully led the effort to oust Kevin McCarthy as Speaker of the House this week, and experts weighed in with Newsweek about whether (or not) they think it was a good idea.

    After months of threatening to remove McCarthy, Gaetz finally played his trump card against his longtime rival, introducing a motion to vacate on Monday.

    But now that the Florida congressman has succeeded, it begs the question as to whether the power move is enough to catapult him from conservative firebrand to leading voice of the House GOP, or if it will make him a pariah in his own caucus.

    Republican strategist Alex Patton told Newsweek that the motion to vacate was a smart move for Gaetz should he want to pursue another political office that may come with more influence and power.

    So, his actions to throw the House into disarray and to thrust Republican infighting into the national spotlight could be detrimental to the next couple of years in his political future.

    "Gaetz has not only violated that expectation but has publicly challenged a sitting Speaker of his own party, causing extreme embarrassment and chaos.


    The original article contains 815 words, the summary contains 205 words. Saved 75%. I’m a bot and I’m open source!