‘He’s about clicks’: Florida Republicans furious at Gaetz...They called him divisive and an attention-seeker.

They left the House chamber last night furious after Gaetz led seven other GOP members — and Democrats — to eject former House Speaker Kevin McCarthy (R-Calif.) from his leadership post.

They called Gaetz divisive. Disrespectful. Selfish. No other Florida Republican voted to oust McCarthy.

Florida’s GOP delegation see Gaetz as carrying out a personal vendetta, accusing him of an overzealous bid for attention and of trying to position himself to become the state’s future governor.

“Gaetz has very few friends in the conference,” Rep. Carlos Gimenez said. “Gaetz maybe has a couple of friends in the delegation. But I’m not one of them.”

As a sign of how unpopular Gaetz’ move to unseat McCarthy was, hours before yesterday’s vote, the GOP conference blocked microphones on the Republican side of the chamber, forcing Gaetz to debate from the Democratic side. But Gaetz was never known as a people-pleaser. The son of a prominent and wealthy former Florida Senate leader, Gaetz made headlines as a young Florida House member when he defended the state’s “stand your ground” law in 2013. He was first elected to the U.S. House in 2016 and, among other things, survived a federal sex trafficking probe.

McCarthy told his conference last night that he won’t be seeking the speakership again. Rep. Patrick McHenry (R-N.C.) has become the interim speaker. Gaetz left that meeting toward the beginning while other Florida members exited it later with somber, defeated faces.

“You got to go one first down at a time,” Rep. Brian Mast said. “Matt Gaetz wasn’t happy with anything less than a Hail Mary 99 yard pass to the endzone.”

Members who are usually chatty had few words to say. Others looked visibly upset and appeared to be holding back tears.

Yet representatives from Florida said Gaetz probably won’t face expulsion from the chamber, even though some lawmakers on the Hill have already started talking about it.

They did, however, seethe over Gaetz fundraising off of removing McCarthy from his perch — many calling it “disgusting” and “inappropriate.” Only Rep. Cory Mills came to Gaetz’s defense, saying that he would need “monetary capital” to defend himself against “a lot of swampy people in D.C.”

Republicans further lamented that lawmakers weren’t closer to their goals of cutting the deficit and improving border security.

“It’s absolute horse s--- that we’re jumping on a plane when our work isn’t done,” Rep. Kat Cammack said, referring to lawmakers returning to their home districts. The House will adjourn until Tuesday.

Rep. Michael Waltz, who is also eyeing a 2026 gubernatorial bid, said that he agreed with Gaetz’s frustrations but not his tactics. “At the end of the day, we’re doing this, we’re not passing appropriations bills,” he said. “We’re not dealing with the border. We’re not dealing with inflation.”

“He’s about clicks,” Gimenez said. “He’s about how many cameras he can get shoved in his face and he’s a historical figure because he caused for the first time in history and all that. I think he gets off on that.”

Gaetz remained defiant and described his colleagues’ criticisms as part of the “stages of grief.”

“It’s to the benefit of this country that we have a better speaker of the House than Kevin McCarthy,” he said. “Kevin McCarthy couldn’t keep his word.”

Christian Ziegler, chair of the Republican Party of Florida, perhaps summed it up best on X: “Some supported it and others opposed it, but no one can deny that FLORIDA — once again — is at the center of the political universe.”

♦ In 2009 72% of the country, and an even larger percentage of the Republican voters, did not want Obamacare. The govt takeover of healthcare was along purely ideological grounds. For the 2010 midterm election, the professional Republican apparatus campaigned on this single issue – repeal Obamacare. The voters destroyed the Democrats and flipped 67 seats to Republican control. The professional Republicans wanted the House, frustrated American voters gave it to them.

The Republicans did nothing.

♦ In 2012, the professional Republicans campaigned on retaining the House and asked to begin a process of taking down the Democrat control of the Senate. Remember, it was a 60/40 Senate when the Obamacare boondoggle was begun. Keep the House, help us take Senate seats, and we will repeal Obamacare and balance the budget. That was the call of the 2012 professional Republicans. The voters delivered. The GOPe kept the house, took 6 seats in the Senate and introduced a wave of fresh Republican blood.

The Republicans did nothing.

♦ In the 2014 midterm election, the professional Republicans campaigned on retaining the House and now flipping the Senate with more GOP seats. Keep the House, give us the Senate majority, and we will repeal Obamacare and deliver a balanced budget. The voters again delivered. Beginning in January 2015, the Republicans controlled the House and the Senate majorities for Obama’s last two years.

The Republicans did nothing.

Worse still, even with professional Republican control of both chambers of congress, President Obama never had to use his veto pen.

♦ In the 2016 election, after the professional Republicans could no longer stop/block candidate Donald Trump, they said if we get the White House, retain the House and retain the Senate, we will repeal Obamacare, return to regular budgetary order, and balance the budget. Stunningly, against all the odds, the voters yet again delivered. President Trump won the election; Republicans now held the White House, the House and the Senate – as requested.

The Republicans did nothing.

Worse still, the professional Republicans acted as if they were the dog that just caught the car. Now they had no excuses, and as a result there was an exodus of retirements announced from the caucus of the professionally Republican to begin in 2018.

Simultaneously, the professional Republicans passively allowed the targeting of Donald Trump by a fully weaponized intelligence apparatus and justice system to commence. To say the professionally Republican were willfully blind would be polite and generously honest.

In the background the RNC did nothing. The California ballot harvesting operation of 2018 reflected a complete lack of action by the RNC or CA GOP. We all well remember how that operation expanded nationwide in 2020, again with the RNC doing nothing.

This is the reality of what took place between the elections of 2010 and 2020. Every ask of the professionally rRpublican apparatus was delivered by voters. Every ask of the voters in return was ignored. Effective January 2021, Obamacare still exists, no budget was ever produced, the borders were unsecured, the economy tanked due to Biden policy, energy and printing presses. Crises, along with insufferable government mandates, amplified and expanded from coast to coast.

The Green New Deal was passed by Republicans and Democrats, and the collapse of the economy came with it.

Clear enough?

Suddenly, as if there was no background of repeated broken promises and a complete failure to deliver on any key request, Kevin McCarthy and his legion of professionally Republican supporters pretend they cannot fathom why the base voters are more than happy to support Matt Gaetz.

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