Florida Representative Matt Gaetz remains relentless in his pursuit to remove Kevin McCarthy from the House speaker position, even though his colleagues are growing weary of the effort.
Gaetz’s feud with McCarthy has been simmering since the beginning of the year when it took 15 rounds of voting to approve McCarthy’s appointment as speaker. Gaetz and his allies blocked McCarthy’s smooth ascension to the position, but after concessions were made, McCarthy was subsequently elected on the 15th ballot.
Tensions are tightening between the two Republicans. Gaetz previously threatened McCarthy while urging the speaker to take a stronger stance against certain issues, such as in negotiations to prevent a government shutdown and impeaching President Joe Biden. The tension came to a head on Sunday when Gaetz threatened to introduce a motion to vacate this week to remove McCarthy from his position.
Gaetz told CNN’s Manu Raju on Monday that he’ll introduce another motion to vacate if the motion fails the first time.
“It took Speaker McCarthy 15 votes to become the speaker. So until I get to 14 or 15, I don’t think I’m being any more dilatory,” he said, according to a post on X, formerly Twitter, by CNN associate producer Morgan Rimmer.
However, Gaetz’s adamancy is doing little to impress his colleagues. Hou…….