Ill be a guest along with the very hilarious Tracey Morgan with the newest edition. I make an impassioned case for minivans. Trust me, persuasive. You can catch that tonight on 12 35 a. M. On msnbc. That is all in on this tuesday night. Alex wagner starts right now. I love Tracey Morgan and chris hayes. Did he make an impassioned case for mini vans . I dont know. I should follow up with him and ask did i persuade you on mini vans . Thanks to you at home for joining me this evening. There is as you know major Breaking News tonight about the Republican Party and its leadership from the former president of the United States who was just smacked down by a judge in new york to the historic chaos unfolding in the house of representatives where Kevin Mccarthy was just ousted as Speaker Of The House. And we are going to get to all of that this evening. But to understand how we got here we need to go back exactly 1,000 days ago to january 6th, 2021 when a violent mob stormed the u. S. Capitol. In the wake of that deadly attack Minority LeaderKevin Mccarthy took to the house floor and said this. The president bears responsibility for wednesdays attack on congress by mob rioters. He should have immediately denounced the mob when he saw what was unfolding. That moment was the closest Kevin Mccarthy ever came to pulling himself out from under his partys hard right base. It did not last long. After that rebuke of donald trump, mr. Mccarthy spent each and every paying penance, trying to work his way back into the good graces of the farright. Less than three weeks later mccarthy flew down to maralago to Pledge Fealty to donald trump. Later that year mccarthy refused to work with democrats to establish a nonpartisan commission to investigate the events of january 6th. When democrats went ahead with what became the january 6th committee, mccarthy did everything in his power to discredit that investigation. When republicans narrow midterm victory handed them an equally narrow majority in the house, mccarthy will still working off his debt to the maga base after 14 bruising failed votes for speaker, he effectively sold his speakership to the maga caucus. He gave conservative House Freedom caucus members coveted committee assignments. He opened a wide ranging investigation into the socalled weaponization of the federal government. And he gave farright republicans the ability to oust him from the speakership with just a Single Member needed to call that vote. But even after all of that farright republicans still wanted more, and Speaker Mccarthy obliged. He started a standoff with the white house over the debt ceiling. He opened an Impeachment Inquiry into President Biden. He passed an Ultraconservative Bill to fund the government, which included massive cuts to social safety programs. But none of it was enough. And it all came to a head today when Speaker Mccarthy learned a lesson he probably could have learned a thousand days ago. You cannot appease the mob. This was the moment today when Kevin Mccarthy officially lost his speakership. The yeas are 216. The nays are 210. The resolution is adopted. Without objection the motion to reconsider is laid on the table. The office of Speaker Of The House of the United States house of representatives is here by declared vacant. Today these eight republicans voted with all of the democrats in the house to remove mccarthy from power to end his speakership. In a last ditch effort to Save Mccarthy his allies made overt appeals to democrats to bail him out. They asked democrats to vote with republicans to keep mccarthy in power, but democrats in the house had already learned over the last thousand days that they could not trust Kevin Mccarthy. Kevin mccarthy had either ignored them entirely or sold them out again and again. Just this week after democrats helped mccarthy avert a disastrous Government Shutdown, mccarthy went on television and tried to blame democrats for the dysfunction. I wasnt sure it was going to pass. You want to know why . Because the democrats try to do everything they can not to let it pass. Democrats were the ones who voted for this in a larger number than republicans to keep the continuing resolution alive. That moment was reportedly foremost in democrats minds when they voted in lock step against Kevin Mccarthy today. He had his chance to earn their trust and he blew it. Tonight congressman mccarthy announced he is officially giving up. He will not run for speaker again. I believe i can continue fight maybe in a different manner. I will not run for speaker again. Ill have the Conference Pick somebody else. House republicans are now in the wilderness, uncharted territory. For now congressman Patrick Mchenry will serve as interim speaker. He says he aims to hold an election for the new speaker next wednesday. On that note, republican Congressman Neelz has already nominated donald trump to be a speaker. And he can do that because the speaker does not have to be a member of the house . But does he have to be in Good Standing with the law . Just asking because today a new york judge had to place a Gag Order On Donald Trump for lies he has been spreading about Court Officials working his trial. But when trump was asked about the man he used to refer to as my kevin, trump imposed a gag order on himself. He had nothing to say. So just who gets to be the next Speaker Of The House very much an open question. Maybe going to take a few rounds of voting or maybe more than a few rounds. As he was leaving the capitol tonight, republican Congressman Dusty Johnson summed up his partys predicament saying you really have to whether or not the house is governable at all. Im not sure i wish this job on anyone. Joining me now is jennifer palmieri, former Communications Director under president obama. David plouffe, senior white house advisor also in the administration, and brandon buck, former aide to Republican House speakers paul ryan and john boehner. Its great to have all of you to talk about this historic moment and historic not really in a good way. David, how do you feel about what happened today . Im not sure its a job worth having. Someone will take it. Thal make a big of commitments and promises to try and appease the right. I think it sets up chaos and turbulence and potential damage to the economy in the nottoodistant future. I think if youre an american its a pretty unsettling but predictable turn of events. Now, nancy pelosi was able to manage quite fine with a majority this narrow, but im not sure anybody who comes in the aftermath of mccarthy has any chance of landing the airplane that will benefit the Republican Party but certainly america more broadly. It really bears mentioning pelosi was speaker with very similar margins, and it looked nothing like this chaos. What did you make of democrats position here absolutely not trying to help Kevin Mccarthy in any way . I talked to a lot of democrats today, i spent all day on the hill, alex, you know what that was, your circus days. A lot of people sending their regards to you. I talked to a lot of house democrats, a lot of moderate democrats, and i think particularly the moderate democrats, they thought really long and hard about whether they should throw Kevin Mccarthy a lifeline, and i think had they thought they were dealing with somebody, a man of integrity, this was someone that continued speakership might help avert chaos. People might consider bringing that, but they were really convinced, he was not a man of his word, someone that had misled republicans and democrats. And i talked to congresswoman Elissa Slotkin who said theyre having a mini war in their caucus and they need to sort that out. I talked to nancy mace and congressman tim birchet of tennessee. Both of those two voted 15 times to make Kevin Mccarthy speaker in january, right . And i think in the both cases they felt mccarthy in addition to not governing well and Congressman Birchett is worried about spending he publicly mocked them. Nancy mase felt misled particularly on some of the Abortion Policies she expected to be dealt with in the house. So it was a lot of bad faith across the board that, you know, in addition to the maga will trying to control him that brought him to this point. Jen, just to follow up on that, the way in which this was very deeply personal for those who voted to oust him, there was reporting that that interview Kevin Mccarthy did on sunday with Margaret Brennen on cbs, was played to the Democratic Caucus before they made their votes really just to kind of drive the knife in his speakership, to show democrats just what a turncoat Kevin Mccarthy was. Did you hear that from democrats, moderates who might have otherwise been inclined to support Kevin Mccarthy as he continued to hold onto the gavel . Yeah. Full stop. Yes i did, full stop. And it seemed this ran at the beginning of the house Democratic Caucus, and it had the intended effect, but i think democrats have been wrestling with this for a while, this question of how theyre going to deal with it. They thought this is not a partisan decision. I think they really thought we cant trust this man, we cant give him our vote certainly with no kind of assurances, theyre just going to have to it on their own. Yes, it puts you in a dangerous situation pluf described but republicans had to figure it out. But, dot, dot, dot. What is the answer here . I think lets talk for a second about nancy mase who was upset for personal reasons, for Policy Reasons but not necessarily who wanted the speaker to be more extreme on certain social programs, for example, on abortion, and yet the person shes going to end up with is likely to be more hard right than Kevin Mccarthy. Is that not correct . Certainly. And i dont know if theyre further to the right but everyone of those folks who kicked out Kevin Mccarthy know they can do that to the next person, and whoever is speaker is going to have to look over their shoulder than anyone ever in the past. What dusty said is absolutely right. Were right now not fit for governing. Were in a party much more made for being in the minority. We like to vote against things. Their problem is not really with the Speaker Of The House. It wasnt with Kevin Mccarthy, it wasnt with paul ryan or john boehner. These guys just dont like the reality to govern. There are things you have to do like keep the government open, raise the debt limit, fund the government in the longterm, and those are fireable offenses. They set a bar he can never meet. The next person is going to have to meet that same bar as well. Its the problem being speaker these days. Youre basically running around trying to make the fantasies of these numbers become a reality. I understand stickup more and fight back. All that stuff you talked about in the open wasnt enough to Save Mccarthy, it was required to get to this point. And thats the reality of being republican speaker right now. You have to do so many things and it worked for them in their own political world. David, in this bizarre world which we all unfortunately live some days matt gaetz is incredibly powerful. If youre joe biden looking at all of this unfold, what is your assessment of the situation as it concerns your own priorities . Well, what a frightening fact it is matt gaetz is one of the most powerful . Were the most powerful city in the world. Listen, joe biden along with i think every democrat and a lot of republicans wants to keep the government open. Thats a complicating factor. Honestly the list of legislation beyond that i dont think he can expect much, but im sure biden can find ways to lift this up on the campaign trail, which is if you get donald trump and matt gaetz, you know, full control from a policy standpoint, from a leadership standpoint, from a moral standpoint, you know, its devastating. So i think this dysfunction i dont want to oesh state it because swing voters from arizona, wisconsin, the president ial race dont pay much to congress, but to the extent the trump circus looks like its on steroids now and in the entire party is going to follow him where its about theater and performance. But, listen, i dont see how the government is going to stay hoep in 43, 42 days whenever it is because to brendens point i think the lease just got a lot shorter. The leash was already like 3 inches. Now its almost completely nonexist tpt. And so at the end of the day its going to make the next 45 days harder. But i do think having all that dysfunction as the backdrop of a president ial race one of joe bidens Core Arguments is going to be you dont want to return to the circus. Its a supporting fact. Please stay with me because we have a lot more ahead including the eight republicans who voted yes on Making Mccarthy The First Speaker ousted from the house of representatives. Turns out those eight republicans all have one big thing in common. And after that what happens when donald trump gets a gag order . Stay with us. When donald trump gets a gag order . Stay with us goli, taste your goals. Congressman, will you resign . That was the now former Speaker Of The HouseSpeaker Mccarthy moments after he was effectively fired from his job this afternoon. Mccarthy walked right past reporters ignoring their questions whether he would resign with a big smile plastered on his face. Now, most politicians would not want to be the reason their party leader had to make that kind of Walk Of Shame not just out of fear about what the party might do as retribution but also out of fear how their constituents might respond. And okay, most republicans did not actually vote to oust Kevin Mccarthy today, but eight of them very much did. And if you look at how eight all of those republicans did in the 2022 midterms, youre going to notice a pattern. They were all elected with incredibly safe margins of victory. In other words, they are not too worried about getting elected. Compare tat to, say, Lauren Boebert, here was her vote on the house floor today. Boebert. Nay. No for now. Congresswoman boebert sort of trying to have it both ways there. She wanted her rebel street cred, but in the end she didnt actually vote to oust mccarthy, and that may have something to do with the fact ms. Boeberts last election was one where she only won by 546 votes. In other words, Lauren Boebert cannot afford to alienate any voters. But these eight people, they could. I think that is an important part of the story here. Still with me jen palmieri, cohost of the circus. Brenden, it seems to me the safety of the members in these districts really has a role to play in terms of just how insane they can afford to be in the house of representatives. Is this the root of the problem . And can Republican Leadership do anything about it . Its the root of what happened today, absolutely. The culture of the House Republican conference is always to do whatever is best for the base, and that goes for everything we do. When i first got to the hill, you knew who your Majority Makers were, those people in the Swing Districts you had to Pay Attention to. You understood you couldnt go too far and understood you needed to vote a certain way because they were the ones who kept you in the majority. Everything is about not only playing to the base but also throwing your colleagues under the bus. Theyre very cavalier with some of their swing district members. Now, there arent many of them left, and thats why it is. No one pays attention to the middle anymore. I dont think see reason why thats going to change course anytime soon. We only have a few Swing Districtsch. Theres also the strange Cognitive Dissonance between the far right caucus doing as much as they can foomake trouble for rino E