The remarks, confirmed to NBC News by two sources in a closed-door meeting, reflect renewed tension within the House Republican ranks as a government shutdown looms.

Frustration boiled over in a closed-door House GOP meeting Thursday morning when Speaker Kevin McCarthy all but dared his detractors to file the “motion to vacate” the speaker’s chair and try to remove him.

In the meeting, McCarthy told House Republicans, “If you want to file a motion to vacate, then file the f—ing motion,” according to two sources in the room who confirmed the comments to NBC News.

It was a nod to members including Rep. Matt Gaetz, R-Fla., and others who are threatening to force him out of the speakership if he doesn’t comply with their demands, like putting certain bills on the floor and not passing a stopgap bill to prevent a government shutdown at the end of the month.

  • balderdash@lemmy.zip
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    1 year ago

    They’re trying to impeach Biden and can’t even keep the government running. Priorities first McCarthy, this is not a good look.

  • Conyak@lemmy.tf
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    1 year ago

    You reap what you sow. The GOP embraced the MAGA lunatics because they wanted to win and didn’t care about the cost. Now they get to watch the party die because they have no way to control them and they are not reasonable.

    • eestileib@sh.itjust.works
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      Reports of the republican party’s distress are greatly exaggerated.

      They still have a death grip on a large large bloc of the country’s most reliable and extreme voters.

      Yeah they’re bickering a little, but they own a) churches and b) cable and radio news.

      • Conyak@lemmy.tf
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        1 year ago

        We are quite literally watching the death of the party. That is why they have turned to policies like gerrymandering and voter suppression that limit people’s ability to vote. They are no longer growing and their ideas are become less popular as time goes on. They will either have to change their platform or continue to dwindle.

        • Chocrates@lemmy.world
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          We have been saying that for almost 10 years and they now control the supreme Court, the house, one geriatric heart attack away from the Senate and for some fucking reason the next election is gonna be a toss up.

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            The next election being a toss up is a matter of opinion. As for the other wins you mentioned they can be directly attributed to the tactics I said above, gerrymandering and voter suppression. Most of their platforms policies are not widely supported. Hell, more than 70% of Americans support some form of abortion access and they just gutted that idea. Winning through corruption and shady policies does not mean they are popular.

              • Chocrates@lemmy.world
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                1 year ago

                Yeah, American Democracy is a game to be won and they are winning. I hate it. We need to rewrite the Constitution, though that will never happen and any document we write will have loopholes that will eventually get abused.

    • Taako_Tuesday@lemmy.ca
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      1 year ago

      I wish it would implode faster, I’m tired of these guys being in control of any part of the government

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    1 year ago

    “Kevin McCarthy does not let these things get underneath his skin.”

    Pfft, if that were the case we wouldn’t be here to begin with.

    • Cethin@lemmy.zip
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      Me too, but also this is going to fuck a lot of people over if the government goes unfunded, and it doesn’t look like they’re going to figure it out. The only reasonable option currently seems to be any decent Republicans left side with democrats. I don’t really see that happening, but who knows at this point?

      • gravitas_deficiency@sh.itjust.works
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        At this point, I just assume the GOP will just do the most harmful thing possible. Sometimes I’m pleasantly surprised; otherwise, I’m prepared for the inevitable.

        I don’t think they’re going to stop until they break something important enough that normal people start calling for blood.

      • Taako_Tuesday@lemmy.ca
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        The frogs have been boiled for too long for there to be any chance of that happening. If they wouldn’t side with democrats and remove trump from office after Jan 6, they’re not going to switch sides now, when doing so would tank their party for ages

    • paddirn@lemmy.world
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      Their goal is to weaken government, to make it as ineffectual as they believe it to already be. The circus is just part of their act, it’s a feature of the GOP, not a bug.

    • Echo Dot@feddit.uk
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      Right wing parties in general have a tendency to ultimately self-destruct under the groaning weight of their own ineptitude. It’s just that in America they do it with so much more passion than anywhere else.

    • TwoGems@lemmy.world
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      But don’t get complacent. Their idiots still vote them into office regularly and we got Trump before. We are still at great risk no matter how funny it is.

      • Catma@lemmy.world
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        Closed to press not those he was talking to. Granted he should have called their bluff ages ago because really what are they going to do? They dont have the votes to oust him and there is no viable alternaitve. This whole thing is a dick measuring contest and McCarthy finally brought out calipers.

        • dhork@lemmy.world
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          They absolutely do have the votes to oust him. Every Democrat can be relied on to vote for vacating, so all it takes is five Freedom Caucus nutjobs to do it.

          The reason they haven’t yet is there is no plan for what happens next. The nutjobs don’t have support to get one of their own to be Speaker. It would probably result in a more moderate Republican getting chosen, particularly if that person brokers some support from Democrats in exchange for sticking to the debt ceiling deal.

          • Buelldozer@lemmy.today
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            Every Democrat can be relied on to vote for vacating

            I rather doubt that’s true. If for no other reason than helping the Freedom Caucus vacate the Speakers Chair would almost certainly guarantee a Government Shutdown on 10/1.

            • dhork@lemmy.world
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              … which they can then blame directly on Republicans.

              And in the meantime, they can start to float conservative Republican candidates for Speaker who they would be willing to support. If one of those wins, now the power of the Freedom Caucus is greatly diminished, because the Speaker no longer owes their job to them.

              • FuglyDuck@lemmy.world
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                I’m not sure that would play over as well as you imagine it does.

                I would be pissed if my reps did this and wouldn’t vote for them again. Because the problem with brinksmanship is that at some point, ya gotta grab the other guy and jump, just to prove that you will.

                • dhork@lemmy.world
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                  Let’s be clear on what would be going on here, though. If there is a motion to vacate, it would be offered by someone else like Gaetz to punish Kevin for his lack of orthodoxy. Democrats are under no obligation at all to make life easier on Republicans. They shouldn’t throw Kevin any lifelines without getting any consessions out of it – and Kevin can’t offer those concessions, because he has already let the Freedom Caucus control his Speakership.

                  In normal times, nobody would expect Democrats to do anything other than vote for Jeffries for Speaker, whenever the Republicans let them.

                  It’s just like what happened after the Debt Ceiling deal. There are procedural votes to adopt the agendas. The minority party typically votes against these because they are expected to. But after the deal, the Freedom Caucus got porky and started voting with the Democrats, just for Chaos’s sake. The House did nothing for a few days until Kevin made some more concessions.

    • TheJims@lemmy.world
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      No it sounds like a desperate cry for help from someone being held hostage. The Treason Caucus is complete control of this muppet.

      • Buelldozer@lemmy.today
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        The Treason Caucus is complete control of this muppet.

        They actually don’t, which is why McCarthy is in this quandary. They want some things he is not willing to do and he’s telling them “No.”. Predictably this is causing them to have a meltdown like the small children they are.

        Feel free to despise McCarthy, I know I do, but he’s battling the Freedom Caucus pretty hard to avoid a Government Shutdown. He’s also doing exactly what I’d do in this situation which is call their bluff. If they do manage to oust him then oh well, good luck seating anyone else. If they don’t manage to oust him them he’s near fireproof until the next election cycle.

    • fizgigtiznalkie@lemmynsfw.com
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      I bet they throw this at him 20 times a day and he always does what they say and afterwards they still say it again about something else, I think it’s exasperation.

  • Cobrachickenwing@lemmy.ca
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    Force him out and let the Biden impeachment die or let him stay and be neutered for the rest of the session. Truly the greatest of choices for the MAGA caucus.

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    Its quite telling how Modern Republicans act towards one another. If Thanos blipped everyone from politically communist to neoliberal tomorrow, they would find no peace. Their nature is to tear down others as its own end. They would eat each other.

    There’s a reason that when Democrats are in power they try like hell to avoid the subject of Republicans as they’re trying to govern, yet when Republicans are in power all they can use their power pulpit to talk about is how evil the Democrats are.

    • StarServal@kbin.social
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      There is no honor amongst thieves. They’ll cooperate with each other as enemies of my enemies until they suddenly aren’t getting what they want, then it’s ‘No True Republican’ with them.

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


    It was a nod to members including Rep. Matt Gaetz, R-Fla., and others who are threatening to force him out of the speakership if he doesn’t comply with their demands, like putting certain bills on the floor and not passing a stopgap bill to prevent a government shutdown at the end of the month.

    Under current House rules, any one member can force a vote to vacate the speaker’s chair, and it would take a majority of the chamber to remove him.

    McCarthy oversees a narrow GOP majority, with only four defections to spare before needing Democratic help to pass legislation.

    He added of the motion to vacate threats: “Kevin McCarthy does not let these things get underneath his skin.”

    The root of the tension is aggressive demands by right-wing members who are insisting on spending cuts and policy add-ons to must-pass government funding legislation, which have no realistic chance of passing the Democratic-led Senate.

    McCarthy was forced to punt Wednesday on a House vote to advance a defense funding bill, facing demands from right-wing members to show them a plan to satisfy their wishes.


    The original article contains 443 words, the summary contains 185 words. Saved 58%. I’m a bot and I’m open source!

      • WHYAREWEALLCAPS@lemmy.world
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        Not force him out, they can force a vote for him to vacate the speaker’s chair. The GOP made this new rule back in January. I suspect they thought they’d be able to use it bring the House to its knees if the Democrats regained power or some such nonsense. Or to keep Pelosi from getting it back if the Dems got a majority in 2024. Or just harass a Democrat speaker.

        • Nastybutler@lemmy.world
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          McCarthy agreed to it in order to become speaker, because the MAGAts wouldn’t vote for him otherwise. They wanted it not for Democrats (who will just revoke the rule when they take control back) but to use as a cudgel against McCarthy exactly as they are doing now.

          He weakened his position from the outset just to win, and now he’s the most feckless speaker in history. Truly galaxy brain level politicking