In a vote of 216 to 210, House Speaker Kevin McCarthy (R) has been ousted from his office. Florida Rep. Matt Gaetz (R) not only introduced a resolution to oust the speaker, but he joined seven Republicans in voting with Democrats against the Republican leader. In response to the vote, Florida Governor Ron DeSantis (R) called it “political theater,” assuring that’s not the way Florida handles situations.
Ahead of the vote, Speaker McCarthy told the press, “if I counted how many times someone wanted to knock me out, I would’ve been gone a long time ago.” By the end of the day on Tuesday, McCarthy was speaker no more. The political world was set ablaze by what transpired, and many Republicans in congress were furious at the vote.
During an interview with Neil Cavuto on Fox News, Governor DeSantis was asked to share his thoughts on the vote, DeSantis explained that “down here in Florida… one, when we take on issues, we don’t do political theater. When we tell you we’re gonna do something, we go ahead and do it… and then the other thing is, at the end of the day, it’s all about results that you are able to produce.”
“What I see up there is I see just a lack of leadership, I see a Republican majority that hasn’t delivered what it promised to deliver, but I also see is a lot of political theater and performative stuff where people are fundraising,” DeSantis added, which could be a political swipe at Gaetz, who’s fundraised off of the vote to oust McCarthy.
DeSantis expressed that Congress is in a state of “chaos” and that voters deserve better.
It’s been speculated that Gaetz is preparing to launch a gubernatorial run. However, when asked outside of the Capitol if he was going to run for Florida governor, Gaetz responded with “no.”
