GOP vs GOP
Republican-on-Republican fighting isn't new.
But the wide open, raw public nature of the GOP in Congress ousting their Republican speaker at the same time Republicans in Texas are publicly gunning to oust their Republican Speaker in similar fashion is absolutely unusual.
You have to go back more than 100 years to find the last time the U.S. House of Representatives even tried to have a vote like today where House Speaker Kevin McCarthy was ousted by an effort led by his own party.
Closer to home, it was just last week that the Republican Party of Texas passed a resolution calling for House Speaker Dade Phelan to resign on his own or risk a vote like McCarthy faced today to vacate the office at the start of the next special session on Oct. 9.
Texas hasn't had a House Speaker resign the post in more than 50 years when Gus Mutscher did so after a jury convicted him of conspiring to accept a bribe. He was later cleared on appeal.
The parallels between Congress and the Texas House are everywhere. In both cases, it is far-right Republicans claiming their leader hasn't been Republican enough, despite still having a majority of Republicans in their ranks defending them.
Former Republican Congressman David Jolly tells me that's the nature of his former party now. The fights get uglier and more public every year with people coming into politics, not to govern, but to burn things down.
"It's a different dynamic than in past generations," Jolly told me.
 | Jeremy Wallace, Texas politics reporter |
Who's up, who's down
Up: Democrats.
They mostly just had to stay out of the way as McCarthy's tenure came to an ugly end thanks to Republicans. While some wondered if Democrats would ultimately rescue McCarthy, a comment from U.S. Rep. Lloyd Doggett, D-Austin, made clear that was never going to happen. He said whoever becomes the next speaker "cannot be less trustworthy nor less arrogant than Kevin McCarthy, who shares so many characteristics with the leader to whose tune he dances, Donald Trump." Ouch.
Down: Kevin McCarthy.
He clearly can't count. Earlier McCarthy predicted he would survive any attempt by U.S. Rep. Matt Gaetz, R-Florida, to remove him from office. Alas, enough Republicans — eight — voted to remove him, ending his tenure. No Texas Republican joined the vote to oust him.
What do you think? Hit reply and let me know.
What else is going on in Texas
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Pick of the day
Photo by: Jeremy Wallace
U.S. Rep. Henry Cuellar was in surprisingly good spirits Tuesday morning after his car was stolen at gunpoint outside of his Washington, D.C., residence the night before.
What else I'm reading
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