Republicans savaged as “clowns” after McCarthy’s failed speaker bid

Republicans are being branded “clowns” following Representative Kevin McCarthy’s failed attempt to become speaker of the House.

McCarthy did not secure the required majority of votes for speaker on three separate ballots during the first session of the 118th Congress on Tuesday, falling well short of the required 218 out of the 222 Republican votes.

Prior to the vote, at least five Republicans had promised not to back McCarthy, who served as minority leader until last week. His support diminished on Tuesday, with 19 members voting against him on the first and second ballots and 20 dissenting on the third.

The GOP chaos was welcomed and celebrated by Democratic lawmakers, who quickly mocked their political rivals as McCarthy’s failure was unfolding.

Representative Jamie Raskin said in a tweet that Republicans had achieved a “once-in-a-century humiliation,” while Representative Ted Lieu shared a photo of himself gleefully holding a bag of popcorn just prior to the session.

As the day continued, a wave of circus-themed mockery of Republicans emerged from both ends of the political spectrum.

Fox News host Sean Hannity warned that “House Republicans now are on the verge of becoming a total clown show if they’re not careful” during his Tuesday night broadcast, while similar sentiments were expressed on social media.

“Republicans need to reach a consensus, and fast,” conservative commentator Tomi Lahren tweeted. “Y’all still have time to pull this together before the entire party looks like a clown show. Move it or lose it.”

Jon Cooper, a prominent Democratic fundraiser, tweeted an image showing McCarthy trailing House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries in the vote tally, describing it as “hilarious.” User @kgloden retweeted the image alongside the hashtag #GOPClownShow.

“Hakeem Jeffries has won the plurality in two rounds of votes for Speaker, beating Kevin McCarthy in a GOP-controlled House,” screenwriter Mikko Alanne tweeted. “All we’d need is five sane and patriotic Republicans to join the Democrats. Instead, we’ll get the deranged clown circus Republican voters all voted for.”

#GOPClownShow was also included in a tweet sharing a photo that asked readers to “check all boxes that include a speaker.” The photo, which was shared by @YMBBastepaway, included three images of checkmarks next to audio speakers and one image of McCarthy without a checkmark.

“McCarthy’s job as speaker and the job of the GOP is to say ‘no,” conservative political commentator Ben Shapiro tweeted. “That’s it, since Dems control the Senate and the White House. What is the actual policy advanced by stalling him here, other than to hand Dems a PR win by depicting the House GOP as a clown show?”

“These clowns did everything but set up a smokestack on the Capitol dome to spew black smoke every time McCarthy failed to get elected,” tweeted sportswriter and liberal political commentator Charles P. Pierce.

“Democrats: just finished a historically productive 2 year session of delivering for the people, now fully united in support of their next leader,” progressive activist Leah Greenberg tweeted. “Republicans: chaotic clown car trash fire full of Nazis.”

“Sorry but this kevin mccarthy clown show is funny,” tweeted writer John DeVore.

Republicans were also mocked after Representative Matt Gaetz, one of the GOP dissenters, drafted a letter to the architect of the Capitol that claimed McCarthy was on the verge of becoming a “squatter” by occupying the House speaker’s office despite not being elected.

“This letter is amazing,” tweeted Ken Martin, chairman of the Minnesota Democratic-Farmer-Labor Party. “The circus has arrived in DC again as the House Republicans started this session in dissarray. What a clown show! The Republicans haven’t been serious about governing in many years now and today is just another example of how unfit they all are to serve.”

Newsweek has reached out to the Republican National Committee and the office of McCarthy of comment.