Breaking Points with Krystal and Saagar - EMERGENCY POD: McCarthy OUSTED As Speaker

Episode Date: October 3, 2023

Saagar breaks the news that Kevin McCarthy has officially been vacated as Speaker of The House.To become a Breaking Points Premium Member and watch/listen to the show uncut and 1 hour early visit: https://breakingpoints.supercast.com/Merch Store: https://shop.breakingpoints.com/ Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoicesSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

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The House has voted. Kevin McCarthy has been ousted as the Speaker of the House of Representatives, number three in line to the presidency. Let's take a listen to the official declaration. On this vote, the yeas are 216, the nays are 210. The resolution is adopted. Without objection, the motion to reconsider is laid on the table. The office of Speaker of the House of the United States House of Representatives is hereby declared vacant. Very, very high drama here in Washington. Kevin McCarthy, for those who want to know, is now the shortest-lived speaker since Speaker Michael C. Kerr, who served previously from December 1875 to August of 1876.

He ended his speakership because he died of tuberculosis or consumption, I guess, as they called it at the time. So eight Republicans voted to oust Speaker McCarthy, which is really puts us in a massive what if phase. Their names are as follows. We've got Congressmen Andy Biggs, Ken Buck, Tim Burchett, Eli Crane, Matt Gaetz, Bob Good, Nancy Mace, and Matt Rosendale. So actually, all across the spectrum, seven of those is basically House Freedom Caucus types. Nancy Mace, much more of like a centrist type, who actually has been helped by Kevin McCarthy in the past. I'm just going to lay out three scenarios from where we go from here, because we genuinely have no idea. And the vote just happened. So McCarthy, he could just grind this out for a few more votes. He could cut deals with some of the eight Republicans who voted

against him. If he wins back, let's say three or four, depending on the attendance within the house, he survives. People in DC actually have no idea right now if he even wants to hang on after all this nonsense. He could pull a Boehner and just say, you know what? Screw it. I would continue to be one of the weakest speakers. I don't want to deal with this every single time that I have to try and govern. Forget it. It's possible. If he continues to grind it out, he might continue to make votes. We'll see which way it goes. The other option is he says, screw it. I'm done. He either resigns the House or he just steps back to a normal member. Then there's a huge scramble for who the hell in the GOP is going to replace him, who can get a majority of the votes.

So the last time that the GOP actually faces, it was probably John Boehner stepping down. Paul Ryan was basically drafted. He didn't want to be the speaker, but they were like, hey, Paul, you're the only one who we can all agree on. Former vice presidential person. Obviously, his speakership was basically a similar disaster, and there's a reason that he ended up leaving Congress and ended up hating the job. Before that was 1998.

Newt Gingrich stepped down as the speaker. They ended up in 24 hours. The party was able to push Dennis Hastert forward. He had the votes. Obviously, it didn't work out so well, considering what Hastert went on to do. That's a whole other story. The current leading contenders, from those who I've spoken with in Washington, this is kind of the list. Number one is Tom Emmer. People don't know Tom Emmer. He's the number three Republican in the House, Minnesota Republican. He's been there since 2015. He's the whip. He previously been involved in the NRCC. He pursued some statewide office in the state of Minnesota. So, you know, more of a Midwestern type Republican, pretty standard cookie cutter. He's basically the leader because number two, the Republican leader, Steve Scalise,

is sadly undergoing cancer treatment after everything else he's a deal with in his life. And he's very sick. So people don't expect him to even want the speakership right now. Other contenders are people like Jim Jordan. I think Jim Jordan is a very strong dark horse candidate. I said it earlier this morning on the show. Freedom Caucus, very popular, beloved by Trump, beloved by MAGA. Obviously, he's behind a lot of the Biden investigation, all that stuff. But he also backed up Kevin McCarthy. I think some establishment GOP types could hold their nose and they could vote for him. Another option, I actually think, and I was just speaking with someone today, Byron Donalds. So Byron obviously is a new star in the GOP.

Trump loves this guy. He also led some of the initial fight against Kevin McCarthy, but then did vote for him this time around. So, you know, guy willing to play ball, all that stuff. I think that would be, you know, he'd have political constituency, have the ability to get it done. Another name, Elise Stefanik. Elise is so ambitious. The problem that I, and she's also beloved by Trump. Trump even floated her as a potential vice presidential candidate. She led

the charge on impeachment. She has the ability potentially to unite the caucus. The issue from what I've heard is that Elise Stefanik may not have enough credibility on conservative spending issues that these other two candidates would have for the Freedom Caucus types to go with her. Another name that was floated, I actually don't know much about this person is Congressman Mike Johnson, but apparently he's not necessarily pursuing that. All these are massive maybes. There's no indication any of these people even want the job. Whether McCarthy's going to be an hour to this job. I mean, wow, just it's massive. Truly, this is stunning. It's the first time it's happened, even the vote itself, in over 100 years.

So the big, big question right now, how does this get resolved? I don't know. Nobody in this town can tell you. So the House is currently not allowed, under their rules, to do literally anything else except continue voting for Speaker until we get a majority vote. So it's going to be fun. We're going to be rolling people. We're going to have votes and votes and votes and votes. We could be stuck here for a long time, just like we were last time around. Whenever I think it took 15 ballots from McCarthy to even get the speakership. Counterpoint's going to have a great show for everybody tomorrow, tomorrow morning. I'm certain that a ton of news is going to be breaking overnight. They'll break it down for all of you. Ryan in particular has got some great

capital news sourcing and reporting. So everybody enjoy the show and shout out to the premium members who enable us to be able to do these snap breaking news events and all that. It does cost money and it helps our team. Everybody has to be on call for the entire day. So that's what we do over here.

We love you guys. And I will see you all on Thursday. You guys will have a great CounterPoint show tomorrow. Stay informed, empowered, and ahead of the curve And I will see you all on Thursday. You guys will have a great CounterPoint show tomorrow. and the perspectives that matter 24-7 because our stories deserve to be heard. Listen to the BIN News This Hour podcast on the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. You say you'd never give in to a meltdown

and never fill your feed with kid photos. You say you'd never put a pacifier in your mouth to clean it and never let them run wild through the grocery store. So when you say you'd never let them get into a car without you there, no, it can happen. One in four hot car deaths happen when a kid gets into an unlocked car and can't get out. Never happens. Before you leave the car, always stop, look, lock. Brought to you by NHTSA and the Ad Council. I know a lot of cops and they get asked all the time, always stop, look, lock. Brought to you by NHTSA and the Ad Council. I know a lot of cops. They get asked all the time, have you ever had to shoot your gun?

Sometimes the answer is yes. But there's a company dedicated to a future where the answer will always be no. This is Absolute Season 1, Taser Incorporated. I get right back there and it's bad.