Infighting Is Funny

Mediaite reports: Brian Kilmeade can — at times— be fairly described as a loose cannon. And in the curious world of opinion-based television programming, that is a feature, not a bug. Kilmeade’s off-the-cuff and unpolished-cum-authentic broadcast style was on full display Thursday morning when he derided the “Never Kevin” set of the twenty or so House Republicans refusing to support …

NBC News reports: For a sixth time in two days, a band of 20 ultraconservative rebels blocked GOP leader Kevin McCarthy from winning the speaker’s gavel, hours after former President Donald Trump called on House Republicans to back him and “close the deal.” With both McCarthy allies and foes deeply dug in, it ensures that chaos will reign in the …

“It is lying! OK? When you have Matt Gaetz and the rest of the group going out there saying Jim Jordan is going to be Speaker, but, yet, Jim Jordan doesn’t want to be Speaker. That’s lying to the American people, Charlie! “And I’m not going to support any lying to the American people. We can’t live in conservative fantasy …

CNBC reports: In the fifth vote in two days, Republican leader Kevin McCarthy, R-Calif., again failed to secure enough support to win the U.S. House speakership, setting the chamber up for a sixth round of votes and plunging the party into further chaos. A core group of 20 GOP holdouts voted for Florida Rep. Byron Donalds, a sophomore Republican lawmaker …

The Hill reports: Former Fox Business host and conservative pundit Lou Dobbs blasted former President Trump for throwing his support behind Republican leader Kevin McCarthy’s bid for House Speaker. “Trump dismisses the 20 patriots challenging RINO McCarthy-says McCarthy will do “good” job-and tells them effectively to do what Swamp and Corporate Globalists order: Trump Backs RINOs and Swamp,” Dobbs wrote …

Axios reports: Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene (R-Ga.) is standing behind House GOP leader Kevin McCarthy’s faltering bid for the speakership, criticizing hardliners who have turned against the California Republican. It’s a sign of Greene’s play to link herself with McCarthy to gain legitimacy and influence in the GOP. Greene is following in the footsteps of Rep. Jim Jordan (R-Ohio.), who …

The Insider reports: Florida Rep. Matt Gaetz is accusing Rep. Kevin McCarthy of squatting in the speaker’s suite, despite not having landed the job yet. Gaetz included in his tweet a copy of a letter dated January 3, which he sent from his congressional office to J. Brett Blanton, the Architect of the Capitol. “What is the basis in law, House rule, …

Mediaite reports: Donald Trump Jr. blasted Rep. Matt Gaetz (R-FL) for threatening having Rep. Hakeem Jeffries (D-NY) as Speaker of the House. McCarthy said on Tuesday that House Freedom Caucus members, which includes Gaetz, would rather have Jeffries be Speaker. McCarthy told reporters on Tuesday, “Last night I was presented the only way to have 218 votes if I provided …

NBC News reports: Democrats unanimously rallied behind the minority leader, Rep. Hakeem Jeffries of New York both times. As is customary during the first vote of the new Congress, lawmakers stood and cast their vote for speaker aloud when their name was called. Jeffries ended up with more votes than McCarthy — 212. It’s unclear where Republicans go from here. …

“We found out that there were several members, three, in fact, that went in last night and were demanding positions for themselves, demanding gavel positions, demanding subcommittees, demanding for people to be taken off committees and people to be put on committees. Three, three Republicans out of our 222. “I want you all to know I have not done that …

GOP Rep. Don Bacon writes for the Daily Caller: Much has been made of me saying I would work with moderate Democrats to elect a more moderate speaker. But my actual words were that if the five refused to coalesce around what the vast majority of the conference wants, I’m willing to work across the aisle to find an agreeable …

“This is a fight between a handful of people, and the entire rest of the conference. And they’re saying they have the right to screw up everything. “Well, the precedent that sets is; so do the moderates, so do the members from Florida. I mean, any five people can get up and say, ‘I’m going to screw up the conference, …

“There is nothing that indicates to me that he is going to change his pattern since he has been in leadership, where he is part of the swamp cartel. “He is the reason on the Republican side why we pass massive omnibus spending bills that just got rammed down our throats by Republicans in the Senate. “He was part of …

Playbook reports: We caught up Sunday with one of the GOP fence-sitters, a member who has been in the room for these negotiations. And he told us that some of these undecided members won’t support McCarthy — even if he gives them everything they want. Can Rep. Jim Jordan (R-Ohio) deliver McCarthy the gavel? More so than Donald Trump, who …

The Hill reports: Nine House conservatives expressed doubts about electing Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy (R-Calif.) as the next speaker of the House, calling for a “radical departure from the status quo” ahead of the Tuesday floor vote. In a Sunday letter obtained by The Hill, Reps. Scott Perry (R-Pa.) and Chip Roy (R-Texas) led seven other hardline Republican House members …

The Daily Beast reports: Incoming pro-Trump Rep. Anna Paulina Luna (R-FL) claimed she received a threatening phone call from a fellow Republican member over her so far questionable support of Rep. Kevin McCarthy (R-CA) to become House Speaker. “What kind of blowback are you getting from the cartel?” Steve Bannon asked Luna on Friday, referring to McCarthy’s loyal supporters attempting …

“I’ve spent the last three weeks doing due diligence within the RNC. Just the money itself that it costs. Forty cents for every dollar that you go out and get from big donors goes to these things, one of them’s called ‘Data Trust.’ “To me, it’s like a big money laundering operation. Don’t quote me on that, we’re still digging. …

CNN reports: House Republican Leader Kevin McCarthy has offered a key concession to critics of his bid for the House speakership during private conversations this week: reducing the threshold that is required to force a floor vote on ousting the sitting speaker. One of the numbers that has come up in recent conversations between McCarthy and GOP lawmakers – and …

Playbook reports: House Republicans are starting to ask themselves two “what-if” questions surrounding Kevin McCarthy’s fate: 1) If the California Republican gets the gavel, how long will he be speaker? And, if he doesn’t, 2) how does he serve out his remaining days in Congress? On the first question: There’s a consensus among many House Republicans, one that few would …

The Daily Beast reports: In a just-released deposition surrounding Dominion’s defamation lawsuit, the Fox News star said he’d never believed—not “for one second”—baseless election fraud claims stemming from the 2020 election. That stance, directly at odds with many of his primetime segments and the beliefs of many of his closest allies, has put Hannity in an awkward position. Among the …