OPINION: This article may contain commentary which reflects the author's opinion.
Fox News host Brian Kilmeade tore into some Republicans over putting their own egos over practicality in opposing Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy from becoming the next speaker of the House.
He spoke to his co-hosts Steve Doocy and Ainsley Earhardt during “Fox & Friends,” where he suggested that some Republicans are thinking only of themselves.
“If they said ‘Hey, listen, he won’t do anything on the border. He’s not doing anything with Hunter Biden. He is not going to do anything to go reduce spending.’ None of this is true, so it’s almost as if they’re debating things that are their egos, nothing to do with America. I’m not even talking about Republicans. Republicans or Democrats. They can’t grab onto anything except for, I guess, they want to get a little bit more notoriety in their lives,” he said.
He was also furious with the concessions McCarthy had to make in order to secure some of the votes that are needed for him to become Speaker.
“How are you supposed to do your job?” he said. “You have over 200 people you are going to be representing. If five don’t like what you do, then you are out… You can’t kiss everyone’s butt in order to do that job. You have got to do what’s better for the whole, or dare I say, better for the country.”
They then showed a video of Rep. Bob Good saying that McCarthy’s bid for Speaker was dead the day before. Kilmeade suggested that Good held a grudge against McCarthy for not endorsing him in the primaries.
“You should not take this job if it’s about your ego and your own personal agenda. The whole thing should be service for the country and the subset is your party. Please explain to me how this helps your party. You are looking like idiots in front of the country,” the host said.
But last week, a group of McCarthy’s colleagues vowed to only vote for him.
The Main Street Caucus chair, South Dakota Republican Rep. Dusty Johnson, and vice chair, Oklahoma Republican Rep. Stephanie Bice sent correspondence saying that the dozens of members of the caucus will only vote for Rep. McCarthy for Speaker.
“Yesterday Republican Main Street Caucus (RMSC) members met to discuss priorities for the upcoming votes on the House rules package and the election of a Speaker of the House. During that meeting, a strong consensus developed in three areas,” they said.
“1. Members of the Main Street Caucus will hold the line. Kevin McCarthy is best prepared to lead the 118th Congress, and we are prepared to vote for him for as long as it takes.
“2. Two proposed rules changes are problematic. Many in the Caucus expressed strong reservations regarding lowering the threshold on the motion to vacate and on changing Steering Committee criteria to facilitate what some have called “all views on all committees.” Any RMSC concessions in those areas would have to be met with real, tangible, and proven concessions by those blocking Kevin McCarthy’s election as Speaker,” the correspondence said.
“3. We won’t reward chaos. Any RMSC support for rule changes will be taken off the table if Kevin McCarthy is not expediently elected as Speaker of the House on January 3.
“As a group of more than 70 members committed to finding practical conservative solutions, we believe these priorities will ensure the Republican conference hits the ground running on day one of the new Congress.
“Americans elected a Republican Majority to provide a check and balance on the administration and to find solutions to the problems our nation is facing, we can’t do that if we don’t elect a Speaker on January 3,” it said.
This month former President Donald Trump has once again lent his hefty political clout to a GOP candidate – House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy of California, who is vying to replace fellow Californian and outgoing Democratic House Speaker Nancy Pelosi.
In an interview with Breitbart News in Florida, Trump indicated that it made the most sense to back McCarthy because it would be better for the party and because he believes that McCarthy has earned the opportunity.
“I like him,” Trump said of McCarthy.
Trump’s comments come as some of his allies — Reps. Matt Gaetz (R-FL), Andy Biggs (R-AZ), Matt Rosendale (R-MT), Bob Good (R-VA), and Ralph Norman (R-SC) — are working on selecting someone else other than McCarthy. The former president did not call them out by name, but as noted by Breitbart, he made it clear that he believes there could be major consequences if they somehow blocked McCarthy’s path, which he indicated would be bad for the party.
“I think it’s a very dangerous game that’s being played It’s a very dangerous game. Some bad things could happen,” he predicted, warning that when Republicans moved to replace then-Speaker John Boehner (R-Ohio) in 2015, they wound up with now-former Speaker Paul Ryan (R-Wis.), who Trump said was much worse.
“Look, we had Boehner, and he was a strange person, but we ended up with Paul Ryan, who was ten times worse. Paul Ryan was an incompetent speaker. I think he goes down as the worst speaker in history. We took [out] Boehner—and a group of people, some of whom are the same, and they’re very good friends of mine. All those people are very good friends of mine,” Trump said.
