Matt Gaetz Threatens to Quit Congress Over Speaker Vote and Oh, What a Shame That Would Be

As you’ve probably heard by now, GOP representative Kevin McCarthy is trying to become Speaker of the House and it is not going well. As we type, the California Republican has lost the vote to become House leader not once, not twice, but 12 times. Yes, 12 times! On Thursday, he broke a century-old record for losing this particular popularity contest, surpassing the one set by Frederick Gillett, who was elected Speaker on the ninth round of voting in 1923. On Friday, McCarthy suggested that he expected to keep losing, noting that voting could continue into the weekend.

While all of this is quite amusing for people who have long noted that the GOP is a joke, the less funny part of it all is the fact that, as Rep. Jerrold Nadler put it to The New York Times, the House of Representatives is “totally nonfunctional” at this time. No one has been sworn in, no one is receiving briefings, and, in the case of an actual emergency—like, say, an insurrection!—no one would be able to officially act.

Given McCarthy’s apparent lack of popularity, and the fact that the ultra-right-wing holdouts seemingly won’t be swayed short of his getting a tattoo of each of their visages on his ass, some have floated the possibility of Democrats putting their thumbs on the scale. Of course, it’s not entirely clear why Democrats would want to help out McCarthy, who’s basically as terrible as the far right holding this whole thing hostage, and so far there has been no indication that they’re negotiating with Republicans to put in a more moderate Speaker, either. Also unenthused about the idea? Representative Matt Gaetz, who threatened to resign from Congress in the event that Dems try to install a more centrist leader, which he insisted will never happen.

In an interview with Fox News’ Laura Ingraham on Thursday night, Gaetz declared: “I’m on the floor, Laura. These 212 Democrats are going to vote for [House Democratic leader] Hakeem Jeffries every single time. He is a historic candidate for them. They are not going to cleave off under any circumstance. I assure you of that. If Democrats join up to elect a moderate Republican, I will resign from the House of Representatives. That is how certain I am. I can assure your viewers: That won’t happen.”

While it’s true that it’s unlikely Democrats will want to get involved (they seem perfectly content with watching McCarthy fail over and over again), it’s possible the added bonus of seeing Gaetz quit as a result could sweeten the deal. On Thursday, Gaetz earned yet further ire from his own party when he nominated Donald Trump as Speaker, a stunt that resulted in the ex-president losing yet another election.