Matt Gaetz: 'Biden's Favorite Republican'---WSJ

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Kevin McCarthy chose the only option he had on Saturday to avoid a pointless government shutdown by seeking a bipartisan vote. He succeeded, but now the GOP Jacobins who blocked a Republican-only bill are plotting to oust Mr. McCarthy as House Speaker as soon as this week.

Mr. McCarthy had worked until the day before a shutdown deadline to pass a 45-day funding bill that included a spending reduction, money for border security, and a commission on the growing federal debt. It wouldn’t have passed the Senate, but it would at least have given the House leverage in conference. The GOP’s rejectionists defeated everything.

That left Mr. McCarthy no choice but to seek Democratic votes for a funding bill that included no GOP priorities. Democrats went along rather than be blamed for a shutdown, and good for them for voting aye despite the bill’s failure to include aid for Ukraine.

Mr. McCarthy knew he was putting his Speakership at risk, and on Sunday Florida Rep. Matt Gaetz vowed to introduce a motion to vacate the Speaker’s chair. If it passes with a House majority, Mr. McCarthy will be toppled. He can only lose four Republicans.

The question for the Jacobins is what’s the plan if they oust Mr. McCarthy? Their latest justification is that they want someone they can trust in the job, but Mr. McCarthy has bent over backward to please them. It is never enough. Mr. Gaetz scores Mr. McCarthy for relying on Democrats for the funding bill, but Mr. Gaetz is counting on nearly all Democrats to join him to oust Mr. McCarthy.

Democrats could decide to provide some votes to save the Speaker, but they may prefer to see the GOP conference in chaos. Democrats will exact a price for pro-McCarthy votes if they choose that route—another example of how the Gaetz Republicans help the left despite their claims to be conservatives. That’s why GOP Rep. Carlos Giménez called Mr. Gaetz “Joe Biden’s favorite Republican” on Fox News on Sunday.

Mr. Gaetz, Matt Rosendale, Andy Biggs, Ralph Norman, Dan Bishop and pals have given no evidence that they understand the reality of divided government. It requires House GOP unity to have any leverage against a Democratic Senate and President, and even then there has to be compromise.

The rejectionists claim to be the only Republicans with principles, but their only apparent strategy—and only seeming goal—is to blow everything up.

Whoever wins the Speaker’s chair after Mr. McCarthy would be thrust into the job in the middle of a Congressional term amid a high-stakes budget negotiation and an impeachment inquiry into President Biden. He’d be subject to the same vacate-the-chair blackmail that has hung over Mr. McCarthy. What masochist wants that duty?

The Republicans who want to topple Mr. McCarthy are motivated by personal animus that has nothing to do with the public good. The vote to vacate the chair, if it comes to that, will test how self-destructive the nihilist Republicans can be.

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