Well, Keven McCarthy finally got the votes that he wanted, but they didn’t come easy. There surely was a fight.

During an interview with Fox News’ Laura Ingraham, Republican representative Matt Gaetz made an extraordinary threat – to resign from the House of Representatives in the event that his colleague Rep. Kevin McCarthy is made Speaker as a result of Democrats joining with the RINOs to vote for McCarthy.

As it stands, Gaetz is leading a faction of 20 GOP members who are determined to oppose McCarthy’s candidacy for the speaker.

“Will you be okay then if there’s ultimately a deal struck with moderate Democrats that give Democrats kind of co-control of the committees, you’re fine with that?” Ingraham asked.

Gaetz replied, “No, absolutely not. That will not happen.”

“That could happen,” the Fox News host said.

“No, listen. I’m on the floor, Laura, and these 212 Democrats are going to vote for Hakeem Jeffries every single time,” Gaetz said. “He is a historic candidate for them. They are not going to cleave off under any circumstance. I assure you that. If Democrats join up to elect a moderate Republican, I will resign from the House of Representatives. That is how certain I am. I can assure your viewers that won’t happen.”

Gaetz revealed that he “wouldn’t be betting on my vote for Kevin McCarthy under almost any circumstance.”

“Kevin McCarthy is the masthead of the Lobby Corps. And I resent the extent to which Kevin McCarthy utilizes the lobbyists and the special interests to be able to dictate how political decisions are made, how policy decisions are made, and how leadership decisions are made.”

“Kevin McCarthy has been in the leadership for 14 years, and he has sold shares of himself to special interests, to political action committees. And so that’s why I don’t think he is an appropriate choice,” he continued.

On Thursday, Florida Congressman Matt Gaetz made headlines when he used his speaker vote for the seventh round of voting for House Speaker to cast a vote for President Trump. It is quite uncommon for a representative to vote for someone outside of Congress as the Speaker of the House usually has to be an active member. When asked who he was voting for, Gaetz shouted out “Donald Trump!” with many in the audience groaning in response.

It seemed to some that Gaetz was making a statement by casting a symbolic vote in favor of Trump.

Rep. Matt Gaetz @mattgaetz votes for Donald Trump for Speaker of the House pic.twitter.com/ywVs8QIPFp

— The Post Millennial (@TPostMillennial) January 5, 2023