All posts tagged "shelley moore capito"

We asked 10 Republican senators: ‘Is Kamala Harris Black?’ Things got weird fast.

WASHINGTON — Senate Republicans weren’t ready for former President Donald Trump to wade into the realm of Vice President Kamala Harris’ race and ethnicity while speaking Wednesday to a room of Black journalists.

But Trump did. And now the GOP is dealing with the fallout.

In Chicago, Trump told attendees of a National Association of Black Journalists convention that Harris, the presumptive Democratic presidential nominee, was "Indian all the way" until “she became a Black person” in recent years. (Harris’ mother is Indian and originally from India, her father is Black and originally from Jamaica.)

So Raw Story took Trump’s claim to 10 Senate Republicans, including Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-KY).

‘What?’

“Is Kamala Harris Black?” Raw Story asked Sen. Tommy Tuberville (R-AL) about Harris, who served in the U.S. Senate from 2017 to 2021.

“What?” Tuberville exclaimed.

“That came up for debate yesterday by the head of your party,” Raw Story explained.

ALSO READ: 'That's a lie': The 10 quotes Trump said to Black journalists that led to outbursts

“I don’t get in those debates,” Tuberville said. “Is she an American — that's what I don’t know. Is Trump an American? If they’re both Americans, naturalized citizens, hey, they get an opportunity to run for president.”

“Are you convinced that she is?”

“A citizen?” Tuberville asked. “Yeah, yeah.”

“Some people are saying Trump's comments yesterday are a throwback to birtherism under Obama.”

“I don't get in that debate. Come on,” Tuberville said. “We need to talk about policies.”

“Curious — is Kamala Harris Black?” Raw Story then asked Sen. Ron Johnson (R-WI) after he voted in the Capitol on Thursday.

“Yes, we know what her ancestry is. She's half Indian, half Jamaican,” Johnson replied.

“Do you need to educate the former president on that?” Raw Story asked of Trump. “Or do you think he knows that?”

“He's just pointing out that she's kind of claimed different heritages at different times in her political career. That's true, isn't it? He's pointing out the truth,” Johnson said. “You can question whether that was the smart thing to point out, but he's just pointing out what the truth is.”

Trump made GOP leaders — present and next gen — squirm

“Senator McConnell, is Kamala Harris Black?” Raw Story asked the Senate minority leader and he and his security detail made their way to the Senate floor. “It seems to be up for debate in your party.”

McConnell — who’s announced he’s stepping down as the Republican Senate leader after the November elections — smiled and, per the leader’s usual, said nothing as he walked onto the Senate floor.

The next generation of Republican leaders weren’t so stoic.

“Is Kamala Harris Black?” Raw Story asked McConnell’s former right hand man, Sen. John Cornyn (R-TX), who’s vying to replace him.

“I can assume we're all a combination of different genetic gene pools, so I don't know,” Cornyn told Raw Story. “I think we're all sort of a mixture.”

McConnell’s current number two appeared annoyed by the question.

“As far as I know,” Senate Minority Whip John Thune (R-SD) — who’s also running to replace McConnell — told Raw Story. “I'm focused on the issues.”

The third Senate Republican running to replace McConnell came with a proverbial doctor’s note.

“Is Kamala Harris Black?” Raw Story asked as an elevator took Sen. Rick Scott (R-FL) up to the Senate floor for a vote.

“I didn't hear the comments,” Scott told Raw Story.

“He said ‘she turned Black recently,’” Raw Story noted.

“I’m always talking about issues,” Scott said.

Another reporter interjected: “Do comments like that make you feel uncomfortable in any way?”

“I didn't see the comment,” Scott replied.

“Do you avoid TV and the paper just to not have to talk about Trump?” Raw Story pressed.

“Actually, I don’t watch enough TV,” Scott said as he laughed. “Actually at the time I was giving a speech on the Senate floor.”

“Yeah?”

“I really was,” Scott said.

“Saved by the bell.”

GOP war on Democrats’ identities

But Democrats fear this bell has only begun to ring as Harris and Trump — and their revved up bases — now sprint toward the election.

“I assume so. She says so,” Sen. Josh Hawley (R-MO) told Raw Story while walking to his office after voting. “I think she's Jamaican-American, right? And Indian.”

“What’d you make of that exchange yesterday?” Raw Story pressed.

“Here's what I think. My issue is not how she describes herself or her heritage — that’s totally up to her — my issue is what she says she’s going to do as president," Hawley said. “It's with her policies, which I think are insane.”

“Some people say it’s Trump stoking Charlottesville — ‘they will replace us’?” Raw Story said, referencing the racist Unite the Right demonstrations of 2017 that left one woman dead.

“Well, you will never convince me that Donald Trump is racist,” Hawley — who infamously revved protestors up by raising his clenched fist on Jan. 6, 2021 — said. “I don't think he's racist at all.”

Hawley continued: “I thought he was needling her a little bit and that racial identity politics are just inherently malleable. And, frankly, absurd. I mean, yes, she's an Indian-American. She's a Jamaican-American. Most Americans are multiple — something-American. And, you know, they've got ‘White Dudes for Kamala’ and ‘Asian Pacific Islanders for Kamala.’ I mean, the whole thing is just, most people look at this, like, ‘this is ridiculous.’”

Sen. Kevin Cramer (R-ND) — who views the entire exchange as “careless politics” — let out a squeak of laughter when asked, “Is Kamala Harris Black?”

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“Well, she's a woman of color,” Cramer replied. “And she said — and she's a — from what I know and what I read — she's a Black. Part Black. She's part Indian. And both are wonderful.”

Cramer continued by offering that “when identity politics play a role — or racial identity — plays a role in hiring practices or nominating, you can hardly complain about it if that's the credential that got you the job. In her case, I think what … President Trump's intent was, she's the one that wasn't Black in her own mind —- not in anybody else's — and then when it's convenient, she becomes Black. That's his point.”

Cramer added: “I've seen interviews of some other people of color that were really good, because what I think happens is … I think, it's already baked in to those people. To other people who don't want color to be the reason that people look at them as successful, they're offended by her,” Cramer said. “But again, it's not that he's necessarily wrong. As entertaining as it is, there's no need to do it.”

As for Shelley Moore Capito (R-WV), she, too, said she wasn’t that familiar with Trump’s take on Harris’ race.

“I didn't really see it. Obviously, it's been in the news,” Sen. Shelley Moore Capito (R-WV) told Raw Story. “I think sticking to the policies is the better strategy here. And so I'll leave it at that.”

Outside the Senate chambers Thursday, Sen. Ted Cruz (R-TX) trashed Harris’ record as vice president and highlighted her connection with Biden.

“She and Joe Biden have spent four years undermining our friends and allies and showing weakness and appeasement to our enemies, which has led to endless wars and chaos abroad,” Cruz said.

“Is she Black?” Raw Story asked Cruz of Harris.

Cruz didn’t reply as he walked away onto the Senate floor to vote.

Senate GOP smites MTG: ‘Ridiculous,’ ‘chaos,’ ‘foolish,’ ‘turmoil’

WASHINGTON — Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene is making the Republican Party look ridiculous.

That’s according to Republican senators.

In exclusive interviews with 22 Republican U.S. senators, Raw Story found a trend — ranging from annoyance to anger to alarm — over the Georgia Republican congresswoman’s plan to formally deploy her motion to vacate House Speaker Mike Johson this week.

“I think it's ridiculous, it's counterproductive, and, frankly, just foolish,” Sen. Ted Cruz (R-TX) told Raw Story. “Blowing up the speakership undermines conservative principles profoundly.”

Last week, Greene told Raw Story polls showed Trump’s base is behind her. Her own party isn’t, though. And some of her own constituents aren’t, either, according to Raw Story interviews conducted last week across Georgia’s 14th Congressional District. Greene is now angling for a deal.

“It's stupid, and it's selfish on her part,” Sen. Markwayne Mullin (R-OK) told Raw Story. “It's either one, a political stunt [or] two, selfish on her part.”

While Democratic leaders feel they have a solid chance of recapturing the House this November, over in the United States Senate GOP leaders and rank-and-file members alike see a winnable path back to the majority in November.

‘Certain individuals tear us apart’

Greene’s antics have some senators worried they’ll cost Republicans majorities in the House and Senate.

“I’m focused on winning the Senate majority,” Sen. Steve Daines (R-MT) – who’s chairing the National Republican Senatorial Committee this election cycle – told Raw Story. “It’s time to come together and not have certain individuals tear us apart.”

Daines isn’t alone in his refusal — Voldemort-style — to even say Greene’s name out loud.

Among the others: Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell’s former right-hand man, Sen. John Cornyn (R-TX). The senior Texan in the U.S. Senate served as Republican whip under McConnell but was term limited out and replaced by Sen. John Thune (R-SD) — who Cornyn is now running against in his bid for McConnell’s gavel.

ALSO READ: ‘Lord of the Flies’: Inside MTG’s effort to oust Speaker Mike Johnson

Cornyn, who’s still one of McConnell’s close confidants, dismisses MTG out of hand.

“She’s becoming more marginalized by the day,” Cornyn told Raw Story.

In the McConnell leadership retirement shakeup, Senate Republicans’ current number three, Sen. John Barrasso (R-WY), is running to be the party’s second in command in the Senate. Barrasso initially brushed aside Raw Story’s inquiry. Ask a House member, he said.

“But is that a distraction for the party?” Raw Story pressed.

“We need to make sure we win the presidency, win the Senate and hold the House,” Barrasso, not answering the question, told Raw Story. “And that’s where my focus is.”

'Just don't think it's helpful'

It’s not just wannabe GOP leaders.

Some of former President Donald Trump’s top Senate allies refuse to criticize Greene publicly — even though they oppose her effort.

“I just don’t think it’s helpful,” Sen. Ron Johnson (R-WI) told Raw Story. “About all I can say.”

Others who proudly rep the MAGA-rightwing of the Senate may not personally know Mike Johnson, but they have their alternative set of facts down.

“What do you think of Speaker Johnson?”

ALSO READ: Marjorie Taylor Greene is buying stocks again. Some picks pose a conflict of interest

“Well, you don’t get up and tell people you’re gonna do one thing and do another. You lose all integrity that way. Now, he better have a good excuse for what he did,” Sen. Tommy Tuberville (R-AL) told Raw Story, before offering. “I don’t know the guy.”

These days, Sen. Rand Paul (R-KY) is the leading libertarian of the Senate Republican Conference. This is why it’s probably no surprise that he’s all in with Greene after she helped make his isolationist view of foreign policy more mainstream in today’s GOP.

“If you’re a Democrat, Mike Johnson’s probably done a pretty good job,” Paul told Raw Story. “He got their spending bill through – $1.5 trillion deficit this year. He worked on them to kill reform of FISA, and then he worked on them to give money we don't have to Ukraine. So I'd say, from a Democrat point of view, Mike Johnson’s a pretty good speaker. That's why they're saying they may vote to keep him.”

As for whether Greene challenging Speaker Johnson will hurt the Republican Party?

Sen. J.D. Vance (R-OH) – who told Raw Story he’s “close to MTG” – says he’s not worried.

“She obviously has the prerogative to do it,” Vance said. “I don't think it ultimately goes anywhere, but she knows better than me because it's her chamber.”

“Do you think it's bad for the party heading into November?” Raw Story asked.

“No. I think obviously there's a lot of frustration over how the security supplemental went down,” Vance said. “Sometimes these things are necessarily messy, but I think having this debate, having this fight is not the worst thing.”

When nudged, Vance – who’s rumored to be on Trump’s vice presidential shortlist – did admit he wouldn’t be with MTG on her anti-Johnson quest if he served alongside her.

“Look, if I was in the House, do I think we should be sacking the speaker right now? No,” Vance said. “But I don't think that's going to happen. So having the debate is actually, I think, a pretty healthy thing.”

Whether it’s healthy for today’s Republican Party to again broadcast their party’s civil war across the globe isn’t — to many in the GOP — up for debate.

Senator who served in House sees ‘turmoil’ ahead

Many more senior Republicans are braced for another brawl.

“I don't think the House needs any more turmoil,” Sen. Shelley Moore Capito (R-WV) told Raw Story. “I’m sorry to see it happen, I hope it's not successful.”

Capito is far from alone. Other former House Republicans are gently trying to dissuade Greene by gently offering lessons applicable to everyone from, say, a toddler, all the way on up to a member of the House of Representatives.

“She's within her right,” Sen. James Lankford (R-OK) told Raw Story. “But there are lots of things that are within your right that you don’t get.”

This is the first Senate term for Sen. Cynthia Lummis (R-WY), but she has four terms in the House under her rodeo-sized belt buckle. While there, Lummis was a member of the far-right Freedom Caucus – the same group of giddy conservative bomb throwers who booted Greene last year for publicly cursing out Rep. Lauren Boebert (R-CO).

Lummis didn’t overlap with Greene, but she’s buddies with Rep. Thomas Massie (R-KY), the lead co-sponsor in Greene’s effort to oust Johnson.

“Well, I'm a huge Thomas Massie fan. That said, I think that that's ill-advised. I wish they would reconsider. There's been enough chaos around the Capitol building,” Lummis told Raw Story.

She may not be a party leader, but Lummis knows few things rally the Republican base like fighting regulatory overreach, whether real or merely perceived. That’s why she wants to keep the focus not on a fellow Republican, but the top Democrat of them all — President Joe Biden.

“This may be a better time to let the dust settle,” Lummis said. “Let's get through this absolute deluge of rules that are coming out of this administration. Let's stop this obscene rulemaking. And the way we can best do that is just to join forces, especially as Republicans, to stop the onslaught.”

Still, other former House members are almost embarrassed by the antics.

“I think it’s a waste of time,” Sen. Ted Budd (R-NC) told Raw Story.

Other Republican senators agree, though they, of course, say it in their own senatorial way.

'Don't understand the dynamics over there'

Talking to many Senate Republicans, one comes away feeling as if the House and Senate inhabit different universes, as opposed to being housed in the same, historical building.

“Look, this is my 40-what … 43rd year in the Senate,” Sen. James Risch (R-ID) told Raw Story. “I’ve never served in the other House. If there’s one thing I’ve learned in those 43 years, don’t try to tell them how to do their business.”

No one – at least none of his colleagues – asked Risch. And no one’s asking his colleagues, though senators have thoughts, even the ones who tell you they don’t.

“It’s not up to me. House members will handle it,” Sen. Marco Rubio (R-FL) told Raw Story. “Now, do I think Speaker Johnson should be removed? No. But no one over there’s gonna ask our opinion, so why offer it?”

Twins.

“That’s up to the House of Representatives,” Sen. Chuck Grassley (R-IA) told Raw Story. “But they won’t be successful.”

Grassley’s fellow Iowan, Sen. Joni Ernst (R-IA), feels the same way. But even though she says it’s not a matter for senators, she has … thoughts.

“House’s business, obviously,” Sen. Joni Ernst (R-IA) told Raw Story. “I just would love to see those that continually threaten Republican leadership, can they do a better job?”

“Well, they haven’t even put forward a replacement,” Raw Story noted.

“Exactly,” Ernst said.

Other senators claim utter ignorance when it comes to House matters.

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“I don’t understand the dynamics over there. I don’t have a comment on that,” Sen. Mike Lee (R-UT) told Raw Story. “House math is very different than Senate math, so I don’t think I should weigh in on that, because I know nothing about how it works over there.”

Sen. Mike Braun (R-IN) never served in the House. Nor does he ever want to. He’s running for governor of Indiana.

In fact, Braun’s locked in a six-way GOP primary. Indiana Republicans will decide his fate this Tuesday when they cast their primary ballots, which may be why he’s concerned Greene’s bomb throwing is going to result in his gubernatorial campaign getting hit with unnecessary shrapnel.

“I don't know why we’d do that. In the sense of, who would do much better?” Braun told Raw Story. “I understand some of the frustrations there, but, I think, politically that looks like you're sowing the seeds of chaos and not focusing on some of the key issues.”

‘Embarrassing herself and embarrassing the chamber’

The impulse to stay in one’s senatorial lane is strong on the northern, formerly more deliberate side of the United States Capitol, the one senators call home. Senators are senators; House members are just different, at least to senators. “The House is a mystery,” Sen. Josh Hawley (R-MO) told Raw Story. “I don’t know, I don’t know.”

The House may be a mystery but some Republicans say the mystery isn’t innate to the chamber. They say the problem is the person. One they won’t even discuss these days.

“I have no thoughts on Marjorie Taylor Greene,” Sen. Todd Young (R-IN) told Raw Story.

“Yeah?” Raw Story pressed. “But she’s going to move on the motion to vacate Speaker Johnson…”

“I got nothing on her, man,” Young – head down, avoiding eye contact – replied.

“But do you think it’s bad for the party to have another motion to vacate fight?”

“I don’t feel like offering a comment on this,” Young, his back to Raw Story, said as he entered a Senate elevator. “Thank you.”

He may be retiring at the end of his term, but Sen. Mitt Romney (R-UT), the former GOP standard-bearer as a 2012 presidential nominee, knows politics and hates political ploys.

“She's doing her very best to get attention and contributions,” Romney told Raw Story. “She's embarrassing herself and embarrassing the chamber, I'm afraid.”

Capitol offense: King of GOP Never Trumpers just hurt a lot of big Republican feelings

WASHINGTON – Most Senate Republicans didn’t tune in to watch Chris Christie formally exit the Republican Party presidential primary this week, but the former New Jersey governor landed a verbal blow that’s left many of the Capitol’s top GOPers smarting.

On his way out the door, Christie tripled down on his losing anti-Trump campaign theme when he accused Republican elected officials of “cowardice and hypocrisy.”

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But Christie went a step further than usual when he personally called out two Republican leaders — Senate Republican Conference Chair John Barrasso (R-WY) and House Majority Whip Tom Emmer (R-MN) — who endorsed former President Donald Trump this month ahead of Monday’s first in the nation Iowa caucuses.

“And you just look at what's happening, just in the last few days, good people who got into politics, I believe, for the right reasons, people like Senator John Barrasso, people like Congressman Tom Emmer, stand up and endorsed Donald Trump. They know better,” Christie told New Hampshire voters Wednesday. “I know they know better.”

That was a step too far for Senate Republicans.

“Really?” Sen. J.D. Vance (R-OH) replied when Raw Story alerted him of Christie’s verbal jab at Barrasso at the Capitol Thursday.

Vance, like most of the other 15 Republican senators Raw Story exclusively interviewed for this story, didn’t watch Christie’s exit speech. But they felt it.

“Chris Christie did?” Sen. Shelley Moore Capito (R-WV) — the Senate Republican Conference vice-chair — exclaimed to Raw Story when told of Christie’s comments.

“Unnecessary,” Sen. John Cornyn (R-TX) told Raw Story. “Unnecessary.”

“I think now is the time that we need to bring people together. We don't need a circular firing squad,” Sen. Thom Tillis (R-NC) told Raw Story.

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Other Republicans greeted the Garden State barb with their own shot.

“What's New Jersey got to do with Wyoming?” Sen. Ted Budd (R-NC) told Raw Story in defense of his Cowboy State colleague.

For his part, Barrasso laughed off the name calling.

“I heard that he had. I didn’t actually hear him,” Barrasso told Raw Story. “I wish him well.”

Wyoming’s junior senator, in contrast, wasn’t laughing.

“Yeah, I think that's personally offensive,” Sen. Cynthis Lummis (R-WY) told Raw Story. “Just because Chris Christie is infected with Trump derangement syndrome, doesn't mean that someone who endorses Trump for president is somehow off the farm. That's really, that's really a cheap shot.”

Neither Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell nor the office of Speaker Mike Johnson (R-LA) offices replied to Raw Story’s request for comment.

Others are taking it personally.

“We're about duplicates,” Sen. Jim Risch (R-ID) told Raw Story of his fellow western state leader. “I didn't realize [Christie had] done that. Probably poor taste, but, yeah, it's up to him.”

Still, many GOP senators respect Christie and some count him as a friend. So he’s got his defenders.

“There's honor in saying what you believe, and sticking to it,” Sen. Todd Young (R-IN) told Raw Story. “I don't think any of their constituents would really care about it.”

If anything, Christie’s attack on his fellow Republicans was on brand.

“He says exactly what he thinks whether it's a cold mic or a hot mic,” Sen. Mitt Romney (R-UT) told Raw Story, referencing Christie’s moment this week when he was caught dishing on Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis and dumping on former South Carolina Gov. Nikki Haley — two of his other now-former Republican presidential nomination opponents.

Romney says there’s a GOP migration afoot that’s partly inspired by fear of Trump retribution.

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“I think people recognize Donald Trump's gonna be the nominee of the Republican Party, most likely, so they’re getting in line,” Romney said.

Others say Christie’s being hypocritical.

“I like Chris, personally, I just think he’s gone so far off the deep end,” Vance of Ohio said. “Christie was like one of the first people to have endorsed Trump after he dropped out in 2016. For him to sort of assume I always see when people do this when they assume that when somebody does the exact same thing that they did, yeah, it's somehow immoral.”

Barrasso is the most senior member of Senate GOP leadership to endorse Trump — a fact that isn’t lost on Senate Republicans.

“So that's a big deal,” Sen. Josh Hawley (R-MO) told Raw Story. “And I was happy to see John make that endorsement, but like, everybody's eventually gonna get there. McConnell himself has said that if Trump is the nominee, and he's gonna be the nominee, that he's, he's, he's gonna support him. So that's where everybody's gonna be.”

Still others say this episode is telling about what Christie plans to do next.

“I think he's selling a lot of barbs out there. That must mean he's kind of going into the private sector, do something outside of politics,” Sen. Mike Braun (R-IN) told Raw Story. “Who else can you piss off? Right? Like in Indiana, Trump has a 75% favorability rating 20 unfavorable. I'm the next in line at 64 and 14. That's big.”

Christie indeed has deep ties to the private sector — ones about which he hasn’t always been entirely forthcoming, as Raw Story reported in December.

“Christie's criticizing somebody's conservativism? Welcome to the movement,” Sen. Ron Johnson (R-WI) told Raw Story.

“Has Christie played any role in the GOP of late?” Raw Story asked.

“Not that I've witnessed,” Johnson said.

Why post-McCarthy dread and doom is afflicting the GOP's 'Biden 18'

The Republican House members most targeted by Democrats for defeat in 2024 have been thrown into a state of anxiety by the historic removal Tuesday of House Speaker Kevin McCarthy.

All 18 Republicans who were elected in 2022 to districts won by President Joe Biden in 2020 voted in vain to save McCarthy’s speakership. Known in the Beltway as “the Biden 18,” they are among the Republican lawmakers most jeopardized by the chaos that has engulfed their party — and their political survival will be critical to Republicans retaining the House next congressional session.

They’re also the ultimate outliers in Republican politics: Congressmen serving in tight swing districts – enemy territory no less – who rely upon at least a smidgen of normalcy to retain their seats. The last thing they needed was the spectacle of MAGA extremists, led by Rep. Matt Gaetz (R-FL), placing McCarthy’s head on a pike.

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“I’d love to have him out of the conference,” Rep. Don Bacon (R-Neb.) told reporters about Gaetz on Tuesday, the Washington Post reported. “He shouldn’t be in the Republican Party.”

Bacon won his Omaha district by just 2.7 percent in 2022.

Rep. David Valadao (R-CA), a “Biden 18” member who described himself as “very frustrated” over the vote, worried aloud about the prospect of another shutdown.

“I think they’re going to have a long drawn-out fight and those 45 days that we gave ourselves to finish the appropriations process gets wasted, sadly, with people’s opportunity to just be on TV and fundraise like we’ve already seen they’re doing,” he said.

ALSO READ: Key Trump ally in Senate refuses to even entertain the idea of ‘Speaker Trump’

Rep. Lori Chavez-DeRemer (R-OR) tweeted: “I’m disappointed some members just voted to paralyze the House. They’ve put politics and personal grudges over the integrity of the chamber and the good of our country. The border is open, gas prices are rising and government funding runs out in 43 days. We can’t afford to play these games.”

Rep. Juan Ciscomani (R-AZ), who won by just 1.5 percent in 2022, blasted McCarthy’s removal as “pointless, unproductive and harmful to the agenda we put forth when we were elected.”

And Rep. David Schweikert (R-AZ), the only “Biden 18” member to vote against keeping the government open a week ago, chimed in: “The decision by eight Republicans to vote with the Democrats to oust Kevin McCarthy as speaker was reckless and wrong. Whatever differences might exist among Republicans, the solution should never be to empower the Left.”

In the days before the McCarthy removal vote, Raw Story contacted the congressional offices for each of the "Biden 18". None returned requests for comment.

But other “Biden 18” members weren’t in a mood for moderation in the aftermath of McCarthy’s demise. And perhaps a bit irrationally, they looked across the aisle for a fix to their caucus’ dysfunction.

Rep. Nick LaLota (R-NY) lashed out at centrist Democrats hours after they declined to dispatch a political lifeboat to McCarthy. LaLota told the Wall Street Journal that at least five to 10 Republicans, including himself, might bail from the bipartisan Problem Solvers Caucus in protest.

“This was supposed to be a time when Problem Solvers were supposed to drop their partisanship and do what’s right for America,” LaLota said. “I’m tremendously disappointed that nobody – no Democrat Problem Solver – stepped up to do so, and I’m reassessing if I’ll remain a member of that caucus.”

A dozen of the “Biden 18” were listed earlier this year among the 31 GOP members of the Problem Solvers caucus. Rep. Marc Molinaro (R-NY) – one of LaLota’s fellow Long Island freshmen who helped Republicans gain their majority less than a year ago – added, “There was little or no effort to actually solve the problem,” the Journal reported.

Bacon also acknowledged the angst caused by the removal of McCarthy.

But he was a bit more philosophical, according to the Journal:

“There's some anger,” Bacon said. “But I've learned -- I've been married 40 years -- let's sleep on things overnight.”

That’s a far cry from the rage on display from the Biden 18 when it came to Gaetz. Here’s a sampling of the not-so-moderate characterizations they offered up about him:

“Matt Gaetz is nothing but a self-absorbed egotist.” – Rep. Anthony D'Esposito (R-NY)

“Matt has been a singularly destructive force within the conference. He’s a charlatan.” – LaLota

“I have neither the patience nor tolerance for this pseudo-psycho-political game.” – Molinaro

“(Gaetz is) a Republican running with scissors.” – Rep. Mike Garcia (R-CA)

On the other hand, the most infamous member of the “Biden 18” – serial fabulist Rep. George Santos (R-NY) – refrained from attacking Gaetz.

Gaetz — Congress’ ultimate Florida Man — had been one of Santos’ only defenders back in January when Santos was under the microscope for a staggering series of lies.

Santos voted to save McCarthy but had little to say until the story found its way to him in the form of a little gallows humor from Rep. Jamie Raskin (D-MD) – recounted in a tweet from Raskin.

“Waiting for the vote and I reminded (Rep.) Jared Moskowitz that there was never so much chaos in the House when George Santos was Speaker. Jared went over to Santos and told him that and Santos said, “That’s why I don’t want to be Speaker again.”

Santos retweeted the exchange.

Still, the best analysis of the Republican House members’ woes came neither from Raskin nor any member of the House. That was left to a GOP senator, immediately after the vote to vacate.

Sen. Shelley Moore Capito (R-WV) told NBC News that the American people are thinking, “Are you guys nuts?”

Some would say that’s understated. But even if the McCarthy debacle produces nothing more than reinforcement of Congress’ dysfunction, that can spell trouble for Republicans holding seats in competitive districts.

Gaetz and others on the far right enjoy the comforts of immovably safe seats where loud and destructive behaviors yield handsome returns.

In contrast, the Biden 18 need support from the center of the political spectrum, where voters have less interest in performance art from their elected officials.

And that’s all they got this week.