Ron DeSantis calls McCarthy ouster ‘a lot of theater, a lot of chaos’

Gov. Ron DeSantis (R-FL) sought to contrast the ouster of Rep. Kevin McCarthy (R-CA) as speaker of the House with his tenure as Florida governor during a Wednesday morning interview with conservative host Hugh Hewitt.

The comments come one day after the House passed a motion to vacate the chair in a 216-210 vote, marking the first time in U.S. history a House speaker has been removed through this legislative maneuver.

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“Well, it’s a strong contrast to how we do business in Florida,” DeSantis told Hewitt on Wednesday. “I think you see a lot of theater, a lot of chaos. I’m not sure it ever leads to any results, whereas in Florida, everything we do is calculated to deliver outcomes and to create a better life for the people down here.”

“I also think just reflecting on, you had, like what, five or six members, Republicans, join with all these Democrats,” he continued. “You know, we were supposed to have a red wave in 2022, and that didn’t happen. It happened in Florida, and we delivered four additional Republicans. But that was one of the best environments to run in for Republicans probably since like the 1940s, and we totally muffed it.”

McCarthy’s ouster comes after a protracted battle to pass a stopgap measure to fund the federal government past its Sept. 30 deadline, which narrowly averted a shutdown. But the continuing resolution angered hard-line conservatives, leading Rep. Matt Gaetz (R-FL) to file the motion to vacate on Monday evening. Ultimately, eight Republicans joined 208 Democrats in stripping McCarthy of his power, a stinging rebuke that also brought a leadership vacuum within the House GOP.

In the wake of the 2022 midterm elections, McCarthy only had a four-seat majority, making it harder to pass legislation; plus, the protracted speaker vote in January led to concessions to hard-liners that limited his ability to govern.

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DeSantis, who served in the House from 2013 to 2018, argued that the drama and dysfunction in the House necessitates a new direction for the GOP. “We just need leadership. I mean, we need to put leaders out there, deliver for the folks that we represent,” DeSantis said. “So, I think that we need order. We need smooth government operations, and we need to deliver results. That’s what we’ve done in Florida for the last five years, and you see the contrast.”

Former Vice President Mike Pence, one of DeSantis’s 2024 primary rivals, also called for new leadership in the wake of McCarthy’s ouster. After claiming he was “deeply disappointed” by the drama, Pence also stated, “If I’m President of the United States, I’m going to work really hard to create an environment in Washington D.C., where we focus, men and women of both political parties, on the challenges facing our country.”