Anthony Sabatini dumped some Twitter fuel on the fire between himself and potential Speaker of the House Kevin McCarthy on Wednesday. Opposition to the front-runner is growing amongst some Republicans as the vote on Jan. 3 inches closer.
Sabatini fired off tweets slamming McCarthy and his attempt to take the Speaker position away from a member who, in his opinion, is actually able to win.
“McCarthy & his pathetic supporters are trying to gaslight voters into thinking the Freedom Caucus is risking making a democrat the Speaker. FACT: It’s McCarthy who is causing the issue. There are DOZENS of Congressmen that would receive 100% of the House GOP vote when they run,” he tweeted.
He followed up on his tweet saying, “Weasel McCarthy is simply NOT one of those people. McCarthy knows he doesn’t have the votes—yet he’s running anyways. An honest person would step aside and allow a real Speaker race to begin NOW. The caucus needs to see who will get to 218 this month—not on January 3rd”
Weasel McCarthy is simply NOT one of those people
McCarthy knows he doesn’t have the votes—yet he’s running anyways
An honest person would step aside and allow a real Speaker race to begin NOW
The caucus needs to see who will get to 218 this month—not on January 3rd
— Anthony Sabatini (@AnthonySabatini) November 30, 2022
Sabatini’s passionate distaste for McCarthy likely stems from allegations covered in the Washington Post that McCarthy sabotaged his campaign — along with others — to “systematically weed out GOP candidates who could either cause McCarthy trouble if he becomes House speaker or jeopardizes GOP [establishment] victories.”
The WaPo story also claimed “most” of the money — millions of dollars — “came from Ryan Salame, an executive at cryptocurrency exchange FTX.”
Sabatini is one of several House conservatives who have criticized McCarthy and have come forward saying McCarthy will not receive their vote. Reps. Matt Gaetz (R-FL), Andy Biggs (R-AZ), Bob Good (R-VA), Ralph Norman (R-SC), and Matt Rosendale (R-MT) are also against McCarthy’s speakership run.
Rep. Matt Gaetz of Florida recently shared a video on Twitter titled, “The Real Kevin McCarthy”, which some congress members have been retweeting.
Never McCarthy. We need leaders who will fight the forces destroying our nation, not someone cutting deals just to retain power. https://t.co/grXZrSClrj
— Joe Kent for WA-3 (@joekent16jan19) December 2, 2022
As anti-McCarthy rhetoric grows among members of Congress and time ticks closer to the vote, the GOP is faced with what could be a messy start for the newly Republican House.
McCarthy is expected to fall under the 218 needed votes if he loses more than four GOP votes on Jan. 3. McCarthy has been adamant that he has the necessary votes, and if he doesn’t, he’ll take the fight to the floor.
On the flip side, there is growing concern of inadvertently giving Democrats more power by electing a weak, moderate-to-liberal Republican Speaker of the House if McCarthy isn’t elected. The last time a speaker vote had to go to multiple ballots was 100 years ago in 1923.
