Like a lot of people, I was surprised to see the move by Rep. Matt Gaetz to oust House speaker Kevin McCarthy from his position, and even more surprised to see that he got his way, using the votes of Democrats to kick McCarthy out.

There was a budget battle on.  The government faced shutdown.  McCarthy was moving slowly on impeachment.  Ukraine was getting its money.  The border wasn't.

According to Instapundit's Mark Tapscott and Glenn Reynolds, citing the Epoch Times, the sentiment on the Gaetz side seemed legitimately angry:

HERE'S THE BACKSTORY ON MCCARTHY OUSTER: It all came down to a question of who do you trust.

UPDATE (FROM GLENN): Excerpt:

Kevin McCarthy became the first-ever speaker of the House of Representatives to be ousted, after eight of the most conservative Republicans on Tuesday gave up on the California Republican's leadership, saying he failed to deliver on promises he made in January, including especially to fight for cutting federal spending back to pre-COVID pandemic levels. ...

Key to understanding why the day's events came about as they did is found in one word, "trust," according to multiple Republican House members interviewed by The Epoch Times, most of whom spoke on background.

"The reason we got to this point was a failure of Kevin McCarthy. All he had to do to avoid where we are was keep his word, keep his commitment and at least fight for that, but he did not do that in August," one of the McCarthy opponents told The Epoch Times before the vote.

"He dillied and he dallied and stopped and started and couldn't decide. He was a feckless leader who didn't cast a vision to drive us to do that, to get those spending bills through. That's what he should have done, that's what he promised to do but he didn't," the representative said.

He was referring to Mr. McCarthy's promises when he was elected speaker in January to cut federal spending back to pre-COVID levels, to avoid at all costs resorting to continuing resolutions (CRs) or omnibus spending bills, and instead return the House to "regular order."

The regular order of both chambers in Congress is to write a dozen major spending bills in committees during the spring, then debate, amend, and finally pass them in the summer and early fall before the Sept. 30 end of the federal government's fiscal year[.]

All of these things were cause for discontent and distrust.

But polls showed that Republicans would be blamed by the public if there was a government shutdown, so McCarthy attempted to thread the needle on the non-shutdown side.

No, it wasn't good.  But was it a firing offense for McCarthy, given what he was dealing with?

Gaetz, and seven other Republicans, said "yes," sticking to their principles.  The problem was that Democrats gleefully agreed, joining him and the other small group of Republicans to kick him out.  The House is now led by McCarthy's deputy and close ally, Rep. Patrick T. McHenry of North Carolina.  For them, the benefit was obvious: a leaderless GOP so beset by squabbling that it couldn't even elect a speaker of the House. 

The move left the Democrat-led Senate's president pro tempore in the catbird seat in the line of presidential succession, now that the vacant speaker's position is out.  Sen. Patty Murray of Washington holds that seat.  That could clear the path for Democrats to get Joe Biden and Kamala Harris out of the way and put in a different Democrat in the presidential chair.  It was said that Chuck Schumer was already scheming.  

If they couldn't pull off that maneuver, it was obvious that Democrats would benefit from the chaos of the GOP not having a leader.

McCarthy was chosen as the leader after a difficult series of votes.  Who the new leader will be is awfully uncertain if they couldn't keep even McCarthy, who has or at least had President Trump's support.  Who does Gaetz think will be acceptable, given that every Democrat who aided him in kicking out McCarthy will vote against that person?  Does Gaetz have a plan?  Or was he, as some wags say, just the dog who caught the ambulance?

Was the plan just destruction?  And is this kind of chaos, as some say, likely to cost Republicans the House in the 2024 elections?

This is the kind of trouble the GOP doesn't need right now.  Unless Gaetz can unite the GOP immediately around a new leader, the GOP is in a world of trouble for this.  House speaker Nancy Pelosi ran her House like a tight battleship and took no guff from the fanatics of the Squad.  McCarthy lasted 10 months and was ousted.  He was not perfect, but kicking him out and having a leaderless GOP majority is even worse.  A leaderless GOP is even worse than a gutless GOP, which looks like the picture now.  And don't think Democrats won't pounce.

Image: Pixabay, Pixabay License.