Possibly. But they will have the same issue they did when McCarthy first became speaker, a razor thin margin. They couldn’t afford to lose many votes. If they nominated a MTG or a Gaetz they wouldn’t have the numbers. So it’s hard to see what the play of these nutters is (other than general disruption). McCarthy is a sleazeball, but he also gave the far right what they wanted. That’s going to cause moderate Republicans pause to go along with a far right pick or agree to any further “deals” imo.
McCarthy is stuck in a Republican quagmire of their own doing. I don't see anything the Democrats can do to even come close to resolving this Republican mess.
I was just going off of the premise in the OP, which I read as anyone but McCarthy. So if there was someone other than him nominated, then the Dems could vote him out if the other guy got 5-6 votes.
To clarify, what I meant was the Dems will have to make a decision if there is a vote to get rid of McCarthy. They have to decide to vote him out or keep him. At that point you can't just sit on the sidelines you have to make a decision. If it were me I'd vote him out then watch the clown show as they GOP tries to figure out how to vote in a new leader
I understand, but I don't think that any Republican to the left of McCarthy would get nominated by the Republicans. I think to fit your hypothetical you would have to get a moderate Republican with a base of support of 15-20 nominated (because not every D will vore for an R)and then the Dems would vote for him over Jeffries to be Speaker.
My democrats are dumb but not stupid. They will all vote for a Democrat if McCarthy is ousted and watch the fireworks across the aisle.
What I’m not understanding is why you think the dems will all line up behind a Republican with only a base support of 20 or 30… Republicans. If you can’t even get Republicans in line for a Republican speaker, why and how the heck would all dems line up behind a Republican speaker? It’s the dems job to nominate the Republican leader now??? Makes no sense. Under that theory why not just get 20 or 30 Republicans to support Jeffries lol. That should be an easier lift. Surely the Republican speaker needs to at least win a solid majority of…Republicans. It’s has to be a scenario where it’s a solid majority of Republicans and only the 10 or 20 hardline GOP holdouts (which was already the scenario with McCarthy). Then at least they can entertain getting some dem support. But for 100% of dems to support a Republican makes zero sense. They are going to vote their own guy (Jeffries) unless there is serious horse trading on committee assignments to swing a few votes, and obviously they didn’t do that the first go around. Instead the horse trading to get McCarthy across the line was with the likes of MTG and Gaetz.
I am just going by the "anybody but McCarthy" tenor of the OP. My point was that Byron Donalds had like 20 votes on one of the ballots, if the Dems didn't want McCarthy that was their chance. (and I am not advocating a vote for Donalds, just the situation that occurred.)
After sitting on this for a day I've come to the conclusion that Gaetz will get McCarthy to give up a few more concessions in order to get their vote
BOOM! https://www.realclearpolitics.com/video/2023/09/19/gop_rep_mike_lawler_house_republicans_pushing_government_shutdown_are_a_clown_show.html GOP Rep. Mike Lawler called the faction of House Republicans who are pushing for a government shutdown if they can't get budget cuts a "clown show" and "lunatics." "This is not conservative republicanism, this is stupidity. The idea that we're going to shut the government down when we don't control the Senate, don't control the White House... These people can't define a win, they don't know how to take yes for an answer, it's a clown show... You keep running lunatics, you're gonna be in this position," he told CNN's Manu Raju.
Let’s make deal. Kevin Mc come on down. If the Govt shuts down over this it will injure the Rs. And if they also pursue impeachment at the same time it will so hurt our democracy that the Rs may cease to exist as a political party. House Democrats weigh risky strategy: Whether to save McCarthy | CNN Politics House Democrats have begun internal discussions about how to deal with the prospects of a chaotic situation: The possibility that Speaker Kevin McCarthy could lose his job in an unprecedented vote on the floor. While no decisions have been made, some of the party’s moderates are privately signaling they’d be willing to cut a deal to help McCarthy stave off a right-wing revolt – as long as the speaker meets their own demands.
The fact that we cant even pass a budget because of the two party system, yet the American people are so dumb they keep electing these people in. The bottom line is, a super majority is no longer possible. The all or nothing approach won't work anymore, so it's going to be interesting how it all plays out. The Dems will have to negotiate at some point, you can't let the other side stop funding the gov forever. The real power brokers in the country will start putting pressure on them.
Oh sure, who wouldn't want to instantly become "the establishment" as soon as they won? Paul Ryan and Kevin McCarthy were both considered rising and very conservative stars of the Republican Party. Then, they became Speaker. Ryan is now out of government (it should be noted that it took quite a bit of arm twisting for him to run for Speaker as he said, multiple times that he wasn't running before relenting) and is still a punching bag. Then, when the Republicans took the majority, they chose to spend days embarrassing McCarthy by not electing him speaker. Mostly by voting for a guy who wasn't running and was saying that he didn't want the job over and over (Jordan). McCarthy is now hated. And yet, where is the challenger to his post? Who wants the job, specifically?
