The widely anticipated vote, which will take place behind closed doors and by secret ballot, comes as McCarthy and his pro-Trump allies have been plotting Cheney’s ouster over the past two weeks as she has continued to condemn former President Trump
McCarthy and other Republicans have argued that Cheney’s comments at news conferences, in media interviews and in op-eds have knocked the GOP off message at a moment when the party is trying to unify and win back the House in next year’s midterms.
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Cheney, one of 10 Republicans who voted to impeach Trump, has called this moment a turning point for the GOP and said refusing to stand up to Trump s lies could lead to more violence like what the country saw during the Jan. 6 insurrection.
“Right now, it s basically the Titanic. We re . in the middle of this slow sink. We have a band playing on the deck telling everybody it s fine. And meanwhile . Donald Trump s running around trying to find women s clothing and get on the first lifeboat,” said Kinzger, who was one of 10 House Republicans to vote for Trump’s impeachment for his role in the riot in January.
“And I think there s a few of us that are just saying, ‘Guys, this is not good,’ not just for the future of the party, but this is not good for the future of this country,” he added.
Republicans are seizing on disappointing jobs data to argue that President Biden
Friday’s jobs report which showed U.S. employers added 266,000 jobs in April, far below expectations could pose a challenge for Biden as he seeks to enact his proposals for $4.1 trillion in new spending financed by tax increases on wealthy individuals and corporations.
Republicans were already opposed to Biden’s infrastructure plans, but last month’s lackluster job gains are giving GOP lawmakers a new line of attack that they are hoping will resonate with voters.
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“The definition of insanity is doing the same thing and expecting different results,” House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy
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Yet Cheney’s case seems to be different.
Maybe it’s because Trump lost the power to control the news cycle with a tweet or a White House press briefing. Maybe it’s because McCarthy lacks the experience and/or acumen to subdue subordinates. Or maybe it’s because she’s a Cheney.
We watched Jeb Bush get flustered during the 2016 campaign. Trump repeatedly rattled him, and the early-on frontrunner never recovered. But Cheneys are not known to get flustered. They are seemingly immune to criticism. They believe in their rightness as much as Trump believes in his probably more so.
“The women don t get the same slack that the men get,” former Rep. Barbara Comstock
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“They re on their knees for Trump and she s standing up for herself,” Comstock added. “And that s kind of an embarrassing thing if you re the guy on your knees.”
The pushback arrives as House Republicans pressured by Trump and dismayed by Cheney’s rebukes of him are charging ahead with plans to oust her as the head of the party conference. Because Cheney is the only woman in the top tiers of leadership, the emerging consensus is to replace her with another woman: Rep. Elise Stefanik