Two years ago to the day, a coup d’etat narrowly failed in the heart of the greatest power in the world. Thousands of supporters of Donald Trump (2017-2021) stormed the Capitol, after a campaign of lies and pressure initiated by the then president. Friday, January 6, in this same building, the elected officials from this MAGA (Make America Great Again) movement, despite being a minority within the Republican Party, imposed their law and especially their methods on the new majority, in the House of Representatives. They humiliated Kevin McCarthy in historic proportions, despite his appointment as speaker on the fifteenth ballot, past midnight, after four days of debate and three nights of negotiations. This personal and collective ordeal has drawn a crumbled, weakened party, but above all captive of the ultra-right populist.
A scene summed up the ordeal to which the victor was subjected. It’s 11 p.m. Friday night. Matt Gaetz sits impassively in the back of the House of Representatives. Around him smoke the ruins of his party. The cameras are fixed on this chosen one from Florida. Republican colleagues surround him, press him, challenge him. By not offering him his decisive voice, Matt Gaetz, 40, has just defeated Kevin McCarthy’s election as speaker for the fourteenth time. A final unexpected twist, while the candidate thought he was finally satisfying his obsession, at the end of a path of burning embers.
The following minutes are already part of the parliamentary history of the United States. Livid, Kevin McCarthy approaches Gaetz to try to reason with him. Earlier in the day, the cheeky elected official from Florida called him a “LeBron James [basketteur vedette] fundraising for special interests », believing that “altruism does not consist in selling oneself piece by piece to the corporation of lobbies”. McCarthy walks away, resigned. An elected Republican is physically restrained by one of his colleagues, so as not to attack Matt Gaetz. For lack of an alternative, a suspension of the session is decided by vote until Monday, promising a weekend of heartbreak. It was then that a new confusion occurred near the speaker’s platform.
Relieved applause
The Republicans, by the dozens, decide to reverse their vote, preferring to vote again on the candidacy of Kevin McCarthy. ” Once again ! », shouts the candidate. Final negotiations – a telephone intervention by Donald Trump with several of his relatives in the hemicycle, according to the CNN channel – have just restored hope for an immediate outcome. Indeed, during this fifteenth round, five of the last recalcitrants are content to declare themselves present, without voting for another candidate.
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