POTUS or Prisoner; The '24 Trump Campaign Fvckery thread
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Matt Gaetz says he wishes ex-Speaker Kevin McCarthy could still vote
The Florida representative said that McCarthy would have been a "reliable" vote to impeach Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas.
www.newsweek.com
Matt Gaetz Says He Wishes Ex-Speaker Kevin McCarthy Could Still Vote
Published Feb 06, 2024 at 11:13 PM ESTUpdated Feb 06, 2024 at 11:14 PM ESTU.S. Representative Matt Gaetz of Florida said that he wishes former House Speaker Kevin McCarthy was still in the lower chamber after his fellow Republicans failed to pass articles of impeachment against Department of Homeland Security (DHS) Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas.
While appearing Tuesday night on Newsmax's The Balance, Gaetz told host Eric Bolling that it would have "been nice" to have McCarthy's vote while watching a handful of Republicans go against the rest of their party after months of seeking to impeach the DHS secretary over his handling of the U.S. southern border. Four House Republicans joined Democrats in rejecting the impeachment bill, although one GOP member, Congressman Blake Moore, changed his vote to a "no" as a procedural measure to allow the House to reconsider the bill at a later time.
"I also wonder, wouldn't it have been nice to still have Kevin McCarthy in the House of Representatives," Gaetz told Bolling. "Never thought you'd hear me say that."
Representative Matt Gaetz speaks with reporters at the U.S. Capitol on January 10, 2024, in Washington, D.C. Gaetz on Tuesday said that he wishes ex-Congressmen Kevin McCarthy and George Santos could still vote after House... MoreKENT NISHIMURA/GETTY IMAGES
Gaetz was one of the driving forces behind the vote in the fall that removed McCarthy as House speaker after less than a year in the leadership position. The California Republican announced a few months later that he was stepping down from Congress. A special election to fill his seat is scheduled for March 19.
"Kevin McCarthy, after being dislodged as speaker, took his marbles and went home," Gaetz continued. "He would have been a reliable vote for impeachment but if he wasn't speaker, he wasn't willing to stick around. And I think that the arrant expulsion of [Representative George] Santos, and the abject selfishness of Kevin McCarthy, contributed to this result as much as the three Republican members who voted no."
Newsweek reached out to Gaetz for further comment via email late Tuesday night.
Republicans are holding onto their majority in the House by a thread. Santos, of New York, was expelled from Congress in December after the House Ethics Committee found "substantial" proof that he had broken federal finance and campaign laws. And former Ohio Congressman Bill Johnson left in January after being offered a president position at Youngstown State University.
Gaetz also told Bolling that he "never missed George Santos more" than after Tuesday's vote, in which Republicans could only afford to lose two members of their party to pass Mayorkas' impeachment charges.
"What irony, the New York Republicans who drove Santos out of Congress, who are watching the children in their state being driven out of schools so that those schools can become migrant housing centers, that now we don't get to execute on an impeachment trial of Mayorkas because they threw George Santos."
The three Republicans facing heat for their "no" vote include Representatives Ken Buck of Colorado, Mike Gallagher of Wisconsin and Tom McClintock of California. Buck and McClintock had expressed issues with the charges against Mayorkas prior to the vote on Tuesday, saying that they worry the bill could set a new precedent that allows future GOP administrations to come under fire from Democrats.[/LEFT]
of course Republicans sabotaged the border. they're incompetent, dishonest, partisan hacks
the sad part is that Democrats are so weak on illegal immigration, thanks to idiots like AOC leading the party on messaging, that no one believes them when they try to call out Republicans
Bleed The Freak
Superstar
of course Republicans sabotaged the border. they're incompetent, dishonest, partisan hacks
the sad part is that Democrats are so weak on illegal immigration, thanks to idiots like AOC leading the party on messaging, that no one believes them when they try to call out Republicans
Since when is AOC a " leader on the border"?
The squad has less power than you think
On the Border, Republicans Set a Trap, Then Fell Into It
The G.O.P. abandoned a bipartisan border security bill that also aided Ukraine after Democrats called their bluff on immigration, agreeing to tough measures Republicans demanded.
On the Border, Republicans Set a Trap, Then Fell Into It
The G.O.P. abandoned a bipartisan border security bill that also aided Ukraine after Democrats called their bluff on immigration, agreeing to tough measures Republicans demanded.
Republicans are rapidly abandoning a legislative compromise that would have given aid to Ukraine and strengthened security measures at the border. The aid is now in jeopardy.Credit...Tyler Hicks/The New York Times
By Carl Hulse
Reporting from Capitol Hill
- Feb. 6, 2024
Congressional Republicans thought they had set a clever trap for Democrats that would accomplish complementary political and policy goals.
Their idea was to tie approval of military assistance to Ukraine to tough border security demands that Democrats would never accept, allowing Republicans to block the money for Kyiv that many of them oppose while simultaneously enabling them to pound Democrats for refusing to halt a surge of migrants at the border. It was to be a win-win headed into November’s elections.
But Democrats tripped them up by offering substantial — almost unheard-of — concessions on immigration policy without insisting on much in return. Now it is Republicans who are rapidly abandoning a compromise that gave them much of what they wanted, leaving aid to Ukraine in deep jeopardy, border policy in turmoil and Congress again flailing as multiple crises at home and abroad go without attention because of a legislative stalemate.
The turn of events led to a remarkable Capitol Hill spectacle this week as a parade of Senate Republicans almost instantly repudiated a major piece of legislation they had spent months demanding as part of any agreement to provide more help to a beleaguered Ukraine. Even Senator Mitch McConnell of Kentucky, the minority leader and foremost Republican advocate of helping Ukraine, and Senator James Lankford, the Oklahoma Republican who invested months in cutting the border deal, suggested they would vote to block it on the floor in a test vote set for Wednesday.
It left Senate Republicans, who had mainly avoided the chaos that has consumed House Republicans for the past two years, looking more like their counterparts across the rotunda, rocked by division, finger-pointing and even calls from the far right for new leadership.
Senator James Lankford, Republican of Oklahoma, invested months helping to craft the border deal.Credit...Anna Rose Layden for The New York Times
“A year ago they said, ‘We need a change in the law,’” said Mr. Lankford, frustrated by his Republican colleagues who had been up in arms about the border situation only to suddenly reject the new legislation. “Now the conversation is, ‘Just kidding, we don’t need a change in the law. We just need the president to use the laws they already have.’ That wasn’t where we were before.”
The episode left Democrats amazed.
“Just gobsmacked,” Senator Brian Schatz, Democrat of Hawaii, wrote on social media. “I’ve never seen anything like it. They literally demanded specific policy, got it, and then killed it.”
As they sought to rationalize their anticipated decision to mount a filibuster against legislation they had called for, Republicans said they needed more time to digest the bill and perhaps be allowed to propose some changes. But those seemed mainly like excuses. Additional time is unlikely to be a friend of the bill as the politics surrounding it grow more volatile with the approach of this year’s elections. In past immigration fights, failed procedural votes typically doomed the effort.
Some top Republicans said it wasn’t just a matter of a few modifications to the text. They said it was time to move on to the ballot box.
“Joe Biden will never enforce any new law and refuses to use the tools he already has today to end this crisis,” Senator John Barrasso of Wyoming, the No. 3 Senate Republican, said Tuesday in a statement announcing his opposition. “I cannot vote for this bill. Americans will turn to the upcoming election to end the border crisis.”
Mr. Barrasso’s statement was just the latest indication that the looming election — and Donald J. Trump’s tightening grip on the party as the front-runner for the nomination — had made Republican approval of the border deal all but impossible.
Mr. Trump trashed the bipartisan proposal quickly after it was rolled out, and senators who embraced it risked running afoul of him and his supporters. Mr. Trump sees border turmoil — and the motivation it provides to conservative voters — as one of his biggest political advantages. As President Biden noted in remarks Tuesday, the former president has been feverishly stoking opposition to the new legislation.
In the House, Speaker Mike Johnson and his leadership team made it clear they wanted nothing to do with the Senate bill. So even some Republicans who might be inclined to support it could choose not to, avoiding a tough vote for a measure that had no prospect of making it out of Congress.
For Mr. Johnson, opposing the measure represented part of the delicate balancing act he is attempting. He has so far managed to hold at bay the archconservatives unhappy with the bipartisan spending deals he has struck to keep the government open. But allowing a vote on the border-Ukraine package could spark their ire to the point where he would face a challenge to his post as well.
House Republicans are going to be in a pitched battle to hold on to their majority after two years in charge with minimal accomplishment, and many of them view immigration as a winning wedge issue. Still, Democrats in tough races in both the House and Senate will now be able to say they were willing to accept stringent new border controls, but Republicans killed the effort.
Republicans tied approval of military assistance to Ukraine to tough border security demands that they thought Democrats would never accept.Credit...John Moore/Getty Images
The showdown has put Mr. McConnell himself in a difficult spot. He viewed the border legislation mainly as a vehicle to unlocking the assistance to Ukraine, which he sees as in an existential battle with Russia for Western and democratic values. Should the new legislation collapse, as now seems likely, he will need to pursue some other avenue for helping Ukraine, even as many of his G.O.P. colleagues in the House and Senate are increasingly resistant to the funding.
Opponents of Mr. McConnell sought to capitalize on the policy distance between him and fellow Republicans.
“WE NEED NEW LEADERSHIP — NOW,” Senator Mike Lee, Republican of Utah, wrote on social media after the bill was released. Such calls are unlikely to get any traction, but they do show the increased willingness of the rank and file to publicly challenge Mr. McConnell.
As the border legislation was about to be released, Senator Kyrsten Sinema, the Arizona independent who helped negotiate the measure, said Sunday on CBS’s “Face the Nation” that Republicans in the House and Senate would be afforded ample opportunity to digest the bill.
“Then they get to make a choice,” she said. “Do you want to secure the border?”
It turns out they did not need much time. They made their decision quickly, choosing not to act on the border — at least not before November’s elections.
Carl Hulse is the chief Washington correspondent, primarily writing about Congress and national political races and issues. He has nearly four decades of experience reporting in the nation’s capital. More about Carl Hulse
so go ahead, explain biden's dismal approval rating on handling the borderSince when is AOC a " leader on the border"?
The squad has less power than you think
choc_cardigan
Squad
That account just repeats far right talking points for engagementSince when is AOC a " leader on the border"?
The squad has less power than you think
Bleed The Freak
Superstar
so go ahead, explain biden's dismal approval rating on handling the border
Same reason he gets shyt on the economy despite having the lowest unemployment in YEARS
Or folks who got ACA in Kentucky who love Medicaid expansion and hate Obamacare
Folks minds been made up before facts. Don't play dumb
no blame for democrats at all, huh
if only the voters were as physically unable to hold the dems accountable
Bleed The Freak
Superstar
no blame for democrats at all, huh
if only the voters were as physically unable to hold the dems accountable
Worked well in the 2022 midterms
Spidey Man
Superstar
ADevilYouKhow
Rhyme Reason
Shambles