Crisis consummated. And with a capital letter, an unprecedented and embarrassing fact in the History of the United States. The House of Representatives voted to impeach its president, the Republican congressman for California, Kevin McCarthy, who was facing a motion of censure presented by the ultra-conservative wing of his party and led by Matt Gaetz, congressman for Florida. The extraordinary decision opens a period of uncertainty and chaos predictable in the absence of a leader in the third most relevant political position in the country, after the presidency and vice presidency.
McCarthy It has lasted 269 days in the position, a disastrous record both for his personal career and for the interests of the Republican Party, which will now have to go through the complex process of its replacement. Once McCarthy himself has denied in a press conference on Capitol Hill that he is going to run for office again: “I will not run for president (of the House) again. (…) I hope you know that every day “I worked regardless of whether you underestimated me or not. I wanted to do it with a smile.” For now, he will take over as interim one of McCarthy’s allies, Patrick McHenry, representative for North Carolina. His name was on a list that the Californian delivered in case the motion against him went ahead.
They are surprising fall It began to take shape over the weekend after reaching an agreement, in collaboration with Democratic legislators, to avoid a government shutdown. Gaetz and his people did not forgive him for the betrayal, calling the agreement “horrible” and one of the great “sins” of his nine-month administration. In the debate before the final vote, Gaetz compared him to “a swamp creature,” someone who has come to power by “raising money from special interests and redistributing it in exchange for favors.”
On Monday night they made good the option of presenting a motion of censure, which was later submitted to a prior vote that left McCarthy little hope of saving his job. In the final round, 216 legislators voted yes upon the departure of the Republican leader against the 210 against. among the eight wayward congressmen in the conservative ranks are Ken Buck of Colorado, Tim Burchett of Tennessee, Eli Crane of Arizona, Bob Good of Virginia, Nancy Mace of South Carolina y Matt Rosendale of Montana.
The triumph of the republican rebellion will surely have serious political implications. A vacancy in the presidency of the House of Representatives will mean a paralysis of activity until a new leader is elected, a process already muddy at the beginning due to the internal crisis of the Republicans, with a tight majority in the Lower House. Ahead, the 45 days left before the extension agreed on the weekend to avoid a government shutdown expires.