Matt Gaetz Made an Offer to Help Jordan, the Response From CA Rep. Is Something Else

At this point, it’s not clear what is going to come next in the ongoing saga to pick the Speaker of the House. 

I think it’s fair to say everyone on all sides of the question is getting frustrated, and somehow they need to figure out a way forward to get to the things that we have to address. 

Rep. Matt Gaetz (R-FL) made an offer for the eight who voted to remove Rep. Kevin McCarthy (R-CA) to take punishment, if their behavior was the reason that was holding other Republicans up from voting for Rep. Jim Jordan (R-OH() for Speaker. 

But now, the House has dropped Jim Jordan as the nominee and there’s a whole new slate of folks including Rep. Mike Johnson (R-LA), Rep. Byron Donalds (R-FL), and Rep. Tom Emmer (R-MN), the majority whip. Former Speaker McCarthy has endorsed Emmer. 

There’s to be a forum with candidates on Monday, and a new vote on Tuesday. 

I think that people want a candidate who is going to address all the issues that need to be addressed, and that Americans care about. Things had started well, for example, with hearings going after Joe Biden and the weaponization of government. People want action and not the same old, same old where nothing gets done. That’s what they were hoping would come out of this all. 

The response from Rep. Tom McClintock (R-CA) — who was a supporter of former House Speaker Kevin McCarthy (R-CA) — to the offer from Gaetz makes it clear how personal and bitter things have gotten, and shows that there’s a lot of division that’s still going to need to be addressed going forward if they’re going to come together. This letter is something else. 

McClintock addressed the letter to “My Wayward Colleagues.”

Your letter of October 20, in which you graciously offer to martyr yourselves as long as you can get your way, is perhaps the most selfless act in American history. I was certain that our Republican colleagues “who refuse to vote” with the Republican majority would have been inspired by your stirring example of party discipline and loyalty to “vote with the team,” as you so eloquently phrased it. 

I was frankly stunned when they did not. I do not understand why a handful of our fellow Republicans couldn’t see the simple fairness of the principle to which you have been so unswerving in your devotion: “heads-I-win-tails-you-lose.”

We should have been moved by your willingness to suffer “censure, suspension, or removal from the conference” to enforce your personal preferences on the overwhelming majority of your unenlightened colleagues. We should have appreciated how you (and 206 House Democrats) saved us from a Republican Speaker.

We truly don’t deserve you. 

But your sacrifice is not in vain. You have succeeded in replacing the outdated concept of majority rule with an exciting new standard that a Speaker must be elected by 98.2 percent of the Republican conference. Someday, a messiah will be born unto us who can achieve this miraculous threshold, and on that day your judgment will be vindicated and you will be hailed as the geniuses that you are. 

I think we were all truly humbled to learn that your “fidelity to Republican virtues and principles remains unwavering.” Who could not be moved to tears to read that you offer your self-sacrifice “sincerely and with the hope of unity with purpose?” 

With this in mind, I modestly suggest that you plan your martyrdom in the only way that truly matters: to have the wisdom to see the damage you have done to our country and to have the courage to set things right before it is too late.

I enclose a proposed resolution that perhaps one of you can offer as we begin the fourth week of national paralysis and as the world burns around us.

He signed it, “You secret admirer.” 

I think it’s safe to say that there’s still a lot they have to work out.