It appears righteous conservative fury over McCarthy caving to Joe Biden over the debt ceiling has reached a new boil.
Earlier today, Cristina Laila reported that the House Freedom Caucus left open the possibility of filing a motion to vacate and get rid of McCarthy if the Speaker pushes through the garbage debt deal.
VIDEO:
🚨BREAKING: House Freedom Caucus leaves open possibility of filing a motion to vacate the chair if Speaker McCarthy pushes through the debt deal
— Benny Johnson (@bennyjohnson) May 30, 2023
Following the press conference, Rep. Dan Bishop (R-N.C.), a member of the Freedom Caucus, became the first House Republican to explicitly signal support for ousting McCarthy according to Politico.
Politico asked Bishop in an interview whether he would support a motion to vacate the chair. He replied in the affirmative:
Absolutely. It is inescapable to me. It has to be done.
Bishop did note his decision was not final. He said he wanted to see whether other members had the courage to step forward as well.
I don’t make single decisions like that alone. And so it depends on what the members who have courage.
Bishop also spoke spoke to Steve Bannon today where he unleashed a tour de force on McCarthy and accused the House Speaker of “emasculating himself.”
This is a disaster. It is an entire capitulation of the dynamic created in January that Republicans could be unified around a core set of real ideas that we were going to go to the mat to accomplish.
Kevin McCarthy is emasculating himself and the Republican majority and so this bill’s bad on its own terms, and that’s worth knowing.
Later in the interview, Bishop again raised the specter of firing McCarthy as speaker. He also urged Republicans to let the bill pass with Democrat votes.
WATCH:
Force Speaker McCarthy to Pass His Debt Limit Deal with Democrat Votes @RepDanBishop pic.twitter.com/48T4CHNDd0
— Grace Chong 🇺🇸 (@gc22gc) May 30, 2023
Bishop’s relevant remarks:
Make them pass it with Democrat votes, make them do that. And you might say, well, that sounds kind of like it doesn’t really help. No. Every Republican you can pull off of that gives life to the promise or the possibility that we can reinstitute somehow the dynamic we started with.
If we take McCarthy out, whatever the path is.