Why did Democrats vote to impeach him? The vote against McCarthy in 6 points According to internet post: Judge bans Trump slander

What happened

A majority of the US House of Representatives voted to impeach the Republican majority leader on Tuesday. The request for this came from his own party.

Chairman of the House of Representatives is a powerful position held by someone from the party that has the majority in the ‘chamber’. Until his resignation, Kevin McCarthy was the third highest-ranking American – after Joe Biden and Vice President Kamala Harris.

The House of Representatives itself elects its chairman and therefore only the “House” itself can vote out the chairman at the request of a member. McCarthy’s removal is historic: no speaker has ever been voted out. In the history of the House of Congress, there have been only three expulsion motions and only once – more than a hundred years ago – has there been a vote.

That’s why the vote was taken

Republican hardliner Matt Gaetz of Florida filed a motion for Kevin McCarthy’s resignation in the House of Representatives on Monday. His accusation against the majority leader: He had made common cause with the Democrats.

The background is this year’s dispute over the household budget. This weekend, a majority in the House of Representatives agreed to an interim budget until mid-November – thus preventing a standstill of the government apparatus ‘shortly before twelve’. But in Gaetz’s eyes, McCarthy is a traitor because he and the Democrats brought about this decision.

But that’s not all for the hardliner from Florida: McCarthy also violated internal agreements and therefore he could no longer be trusted.

That’s why Democrats voted to impeach him

McCarthy was voted out of office in the House of Representatives by a vote of 216 to 210. A total of eight Republicans approved the motion. But that also means that all the remaining votes came from Democrats – no one voted against impeaching McCarthy. Why did they decide to do this?

Apparently, there were still discussions this weekend about whether Democrats could come to McCarthy’s aid — if he was willing to make certain concessions. But since that wasn’t the case, they ultimately decided to vote for removal. According to media reports, it is unclear what exactly these concessions would have entailed.

Hakeem Jeffries, the Democratic minority leader in the House of Representatives, released a statement on the decision shortly before the vote. McCarthy has himself to blame for this, says Jeffries. The Republican used his short term as speaker of parliament to accommodate the extremists in his party. He also referred to the chaotic fifteen rounds of votes the House of Representatives had to go through in January to elect McCarthy as speaker. To get himself elected, McCarthy had made concessions to the far-right Republicans – including allowing any member to file a motion for impeachment. In short, the reasoning is: it’s your own fault.

“It is now the responsibility of Republican members to end the Republican civil war in the House of Representatives,” Jeffries wrote. The Republican Party has been described as the GOP – Grand Old Party. Given their unwillingness to disengage from MAGA extremism in an “authentic and comprehensive manner,” the Democratic leadership of the House of Representatives will vote “yes.”

Former Democratic House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, who was not in Washington DC on Tuesday and therefore missed the vote, also blamed the chaos on the opposing party. Democrats have no reason to help McCarthy, Pelosi said.

And even the Republicans thought that the Democrats were taking what they thought was the right step. In a final, doomed plea before the election, Representative Patrick McHenry, an ally of Republicans and McCarthy of North Carolina, said: “We will throw away this track record that Kevin McCarthy and a Republican majority have produced in a Democratic-led Washington.” Ultimately, this will lead to more liberal outcomes and not more conservative outcomes. “So I understand why the left is where it is today. You don’t like an effective conservative majority, and I don’t blame you. But on the right you have to reconsider.”

In addition to the attitude ‘If you do business with right-wing extremists, you get what you deserve’, the Democrats also have other reasons why they wanted to get rid of McCarthy. Here’s what Virginia Democrat Abigail Spanberger said before the vote:

McCarthy is despicable and constantly spreads lies. Ted Lieu, another Democrat, said: “Hopefully the Republicans can bring in someone who won’t go back on his word. We’ll see what happens.” And a California Democrat can be quoted as saying, “It’s a real shame that we’re in this situation, but the reality is that from the beginning, Kevin McCarthy has rushed to the limit at every opportunity .”

This is how deselection should be assessed

According to SRF US correspondent Pascal Weber, Tuesday was “a hateful reckoning within the Republican Party in front of everyone. A reckoning that now plunges the US into a major leadership crisis – with an uncertain outcome.”

In fact, both parties now face challenging days and weeks: they would actually have to decide on a new budget law – that alone is a monster task. But now they must first grapple with McCarthy’s successor. Until this is cleared up, everything else must take a back seat. And anyone who remembers the fifteen rounds of voting at the beginning of the year that it took to reach an agreement can imagine where this leads.

This is how McCarthy responds

He would not run again, McCarthy said Tuesday evening in a partly emotional, partly aggressive appearance. For him, the presidency was the greatest honor. “I enjoyed every minute.” He is at peace with himself. “I wouldn’t do anything differently,” he emphasized. “If I lose my job because I do what I think is right, then I can live with that.” He said self-deprecatingly, “I made history, right?”

At the same time, the Republican criticized the rebels within the party, especially Gaetz. McCarthy complained that it was in no way about the content, but rather about personal matters – and getting media attention. He rejected Gaetz’s allegations. “Just because Gaetz said something doesn’t mean it’s true. I haven’t heard him say a single true word.”

McCarthy complained that it should not be possible for a leader of the House of Representatives to have the overwhelming majority of his caucus behind him and yet be removed from office by eight MPs along with the other party. “I don’t think this rule should be there – no matter who is the chairman.” Parliament as an institution has failed.

This is how it continues now

McCarthy’s successor will not be decided until next week at the earliest. On Tuesday evening (local time), members of the House were told that no further votes are expected this week. This is evident, among other things, from a circular email from the Democratic faction to its own MPs. The American parliament is currently completely paralyzed by the drama. Until a successor to McCarthy is elected, all remaining legislative work is on hold.

Several Republican lawmakers — including McCarthy opponents Matt Gaetz and Bob Good — said Tuesday evening after an internal party meeting that the chamber’s acting speaker, Republican Patrick McHenry, had announced that potential successor candidates should be given a few days to make their position publicly to confirm. ambitions and to recruit votes within our own ranks. According to Gaetz and Good, the Republicans will meet again on Tuesday for an internal meeting in which potential successors can introduce themselves. Only then should elections be scheduled in the plenary meeting. McHenry is only temporarily deployed for formal tasks, but politically he does not fulfill the chairman’s role. It is unclear who could become the next leader of the House of Representatives. McCarthy announced he would not run for the post again.

With material from the Keystone-SDA news agency.