Thread by @MatthewFoldi

New from me @TheSpectator:

I gave everyone anonymity to take a closer look at what happened last week...and how we finally got to the long-awaited @SpeakerMcCarthy!

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(1/xx)

And then there was Kevin.

In the wake of a forecasted red wave that never materialized, now-@SpeakerMcCarthy plotted with friends and foes alike to secure the magical 218 votes necessary to take the helm of a rowdy, openly feuding House GOP.

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(2/xx)

After fifteen rounds of voting, Republicans eventually united behind him. Key players in the machinations spoke with @TheSpectator about the breakdown in the negotiations that had started in earnest after November’s elections.

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(3/xx)

“Whirlwind.” “Shitshow.” “Weird.” At times, last week’s history-making votes felt more like a slog through purgatory than a victory lap over the long-awaited firing of Nancy Pelosi.

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(4/xx)

The work was so all-consuming that some staffers even say they had C-SPAN-infused dreams and nightmares when they were able to catch a few hours’ worth of sleep.

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(5/xx)

NOTE: I think it is a triumph of America exceptionalism that I got a @MeekMill reference through the editing process of a British magazine

🇺🇸🇺🇸🇺🇸🇺🇸🇺🇸🇺🇸🇺🇸🇺🇸🇺🇸🇺🇸🇺🇸🇺🇸



(6/xx)

The drama also collided with the onset of Dry January, making for some tough choices. One congressman debated with me about whether he earned a mulligan after a particularly long day of voting.

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(7/xx)

Important time to reference a separate piece @TheSpectator on how Dry January is cruel

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(8/xx)

On the first day, when it became clear that the impasse wouldn’t be solved, Congress adjourned — to the swearing-in parties that had been planned for weeks.

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(9/xx)

For much of the negotiations, the elephant in the room was the *lack* of elephants in the room. House Republicans had a smaller than expected conference, giving each member leverage they would have lacked had the GOP picked up a historic majority

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(10/xx)

One source close to the negotiations among McCarthy’s opponents said that the stage was actually set months ago: “This started with the rules package that [the House Freedom Caucus] introduced in the summer.”

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(11/xx)

But it was only after Republicans gained the same slim five-seat majority that Democrats had for two years that the talks really heat up.

“Leadership didn’t really want to engage until after the elections,” one closely involved staffer told me.

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(12/xx)

Going into the week’s votes, a small handful of Republican members made it clear that they were opposed to McCarthy — but the initial rounds had up to twenty congressmen voting against the eventual speaker.

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(13/xx)

One of the players in the anti-McCarthy camp said this came down to members’ preferences. “Some people were genuinely undecided until right before...those who came out first had to take a lot of the heat and anger before everyone else did.”

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(14/xx)

While McCarthy’s opponents insist that they had several alternatives to him — which some staffers are surprised never leaked — one thing they never took seriously was the idea of a West Wing-style unity speaker backed by members of both parties.

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(15/xx)

As the week dragged on, and bets on political betting sites like PredictIt swelled, frustration mounted. Republicans took to media outlets on the left, right and alleged center to push their talking points.

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(16/xx)

In fact, CNN played center stage to the drama at times! @ByronDonalds told @jaketapper that McCarthy didn’t have the necessary votes at one point; Donalds briefly became a McCarthy alternative before voting to push McCarthy over the top.

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(17/xx)

A veteran GOP communications director on the Hill considered the uptick in Republicans on CNN notable — and said it could portend a broader trend with freshmen who like watching themselves on TV.

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(18/xx)

A counterpart of his disagreed: she thinks CNN and MSNBC will drop their newfound Republican friends because their liberal audiences don’t want to hear from them — unless they are engaged in a GOP civil war like they were last week.

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(19/xx)

While the specifics of the deal-making that took place may never be fully public, several stakeholders told me that the horse-trading will make for an even more fragile majority than many expected.

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(20/xx)

“You can only give so much to the Freedom Caucus without taking from the normie Republicans,” one told me. Some of this has already played out in the immediate aftermath, with the high-stakes battle for the House’s Homeland Security chairmanship.

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(21/xx)

For example, @DanCrenshawTX had been campaigning to take over the prestigious committee for nearly a year, only to see the spot awarded to Freedom Caucus member Mark Green at the last minute.

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(22/xx)

One source who was enmeshed with the Republicans’ Steering Committee pointed to this as the first big concession McCarthy made.

“There are lots of unwritten, back-door deals that McCarthy agreed to just to secure his votes for speaker,” she said

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(23/xx)

One source reminded me that the new ability for anyone to invoke the motion to vacate could be used by any Republican, not just McCarthy’s foes.

Most think someone will invoke it, a possibility @GOPoversight's @RepJamesComer acknowledged.

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(24/xx)

The intra-GOP infighting didn’t happen in a vacuum, of course. House Democrats, fresh off of jettisoning their aging leadership, presented a united front behind Hakeem Jeffries.

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(25/xx)

Hakeem Jeffries notched a unanimous 212 votes in all but one round, when notoriously absent Rep. David Trone from #MD06 was absent for surgery

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(26/xx)

“Sometimes it felt like they were trying to hold the rest of us hostage,” a comms director for a pro-McCarthy member told me. “It felt like some members refused to negotiate in good faith and were out there for clicks and attention.”

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(27/xx)

Finally, however, both sides had seen enough. While some pro-McCarthy voices told me that "McCarthy negotiated way too much," his opponents welcomed his team’s willingness to "engage in earnest, good faith negotiations."

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(28/xx)

The more optimistic view among McCarthy’s detractors is that this fight was worthwhile, because it can lead to a House of Representatives that is “more open, more democratic [and] more accountable.”

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(29/xx)

Many staffers from both sides of the divide did agree that much of this should have taken place months ago. But some among the anti-McCarthy crowd delighted in the public blood-letting, arguing that it was good for the party—or their bosses.

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(30/xx)

A Hill staffer joining her second office, that of a pro-McCarthy freshman, echoed the complaints of many to me when complaining about the lack of a united front the GOP showed, and that there was never going to be a credible alternative.

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(31/xx)

The week’s chaos not only affected the basic functioning of the House, but also constituent services. All new Hill staff were frozen out of their government email addresses until the impasse was breached.

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(32/xx)

A comms director for a freshman member resorted to sending direct messages on Twitter to journalists to make sure that his boss’s voice was included in their coverage, because he was unable to email them.

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(33/xx)

Even staffers who transferred from one office to another had their government email accounts frozen. Had the deadlock continued, the salaries of both members of Congress and their staff would have been thrown into limbo.

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(34/xx)

#WI08's @RepGallagher pointed out that he lost security clearance because he was technically unemployed. He learned this when attempting to enter a SCIF when he was “informed by House security that technically I don’t have a clearance.”

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(35/xx)

The entire Congress were sworn in as one on January 7 after midnight. This foiled the plans of many families who flew in to celebrate their spouses, parents or siblings, because they had to return to their day jobs or classes across the country.

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(36/xx)

One member’s family told me they flew in, toured some museums, but were unable to extend their stay long enough to properly celebrate after the swearing-ins were delayed repeatedly.

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(37/xx)

Another disappointed group is the DC lobbyist crew. One lobbyist who made the rounds told me it wasn’t a surprise that Congress dispersed, because “members had receptions for donors, lobbyists, family and friends (in that order of importance).”

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(38/xx)

#FL01's @mattgaetz, who swore off fundraising from corporate money, was able to keep his campaign coffers full by sending out fundraising missive after fundraising missive over email and text about his work “stopping McCarthy.”

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(39/xx)

Meanwhile, the Republican Party’s larger donor fundraising was cryogenically frozen. A party fundraiser told me that until the speaker’s race was decided, all big donors wanted to do was talk about how the speaker’s race was unsettled.

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(40/xx)

Meanwhile, small-dollar donors were flocking to the Republicans who were fighting the “establishment” harder than they fight against Democrats.

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(41/xx)

One Republican member noted to me that the motives of many of McCarthy’s foes were selfish. In addition to the fundraising hauls, she pointed to several who are likely to mount statewide bids, using their anti-McCarthy stances in GOP primaries.

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(42/xx)