Kevin McCarthy Debases Himself in Hopes of Finally Winning Speaker Vote, Then Loses Again (And Again, And Again)

Republican lawmaker Kevin McCarthy is currently trying to become Speaker of the House and failing miserably. On Tuesday, he lost the vote three times. On Wednesday, he recorded another three losses for a total of six. Obviously, all of this is extremely humiliating, but the California lawmaker apparently possesses an endless capacity for being publicly humiliated, and has no intention of throwing in the towel. Also, given that he—quite presumptuously!—already moved his belongings into the Speaker’s office, he may have gamed out the scenarios in his head and decided it would be more embarrassing to admit defeat and have to move his things out than lose another 10, 15, or 20 times before maybe eking out a very sad win.

Of course, whether or not a win will ever actually come is very much up in the air, as the holdouts seem to have no intention of caving without extracting assurances from McCarthy that would render him entirely beholden to them. And while just giving them everything they want would (1) not be a great negotiating tactic and (2) still not ensure he finally scores those crucial votes, it appears McCarthy intends to go down that road.

CNN reports that on Wednesday, after losing the vote half a dozen times, McCarthy “proposed more key concessions in his push to get 218 votes—including agreeing to propose a rules change that would allow just one member to call for a vote to oust a sitting Speaker,” according to two people familiar with the matter. In two further concessions, McCarthy reportedly also agreed to allow for more Freedom Caucus members—the ultraconservative faction of the House GOP—to serve on the House Rules Committee, the powerful group that decides how bills come up for a vote, and promised votes on specific bills prioritized by this group—including term limits for Congress and a border-security plan. Sources also said that “in one sign of a breakthrough, a McCarthy-aligned super PAC agreed to not play in open Republican primaries in safe seats—one of the big demands that conservatives had asked for but that McCarthy had resisted until this point.“

And yet…going into Thursday it still wasn’t enough to put the California lawmaker out of his misery. Early Thursday afternoon, McCarthy lost again, and again.

To mix things up, and perhaps further demonstrate the GOP is a joke, at one point Thursday, Rep. Matt Gaetz nominated Donald Trump to serve as Speaker of the House. Spoiler alert, the former guy didn’t win this election either.

For his part, Trump demanded on Wednesday that Republicans “VOTE FOR KEVIN, CLOSE THE DEAL, TAKE THE VICTORY,” which they promptly refused to do. Later, holdout Lauren Boebert called on Trump to sit McCarthy down and explain to him “you do not have the votes and it’s time to withdraw.” That also, obviously, has not happened.

Somehow, against all odds, McCarthy still insists there’s a path forward for him as Speaker; whether or not that path involves literally taking orders from Lauren Boebert, Matt Gaetz, and the other Freedom Caucus holdouts remains to be seen, but it’s certainly looking like that’ll be the case.