The elections for Republican speaker were expected to be a pro forma vote, with Kevin McCarthy being the only candidate in sight for this position. No surprise that his abrupt decision to withdraw from the race caused shock among other members of the party and raised concerns about the absence of appropriate candidates for this position.
“This took everyone by surprise,” Nicole Sandler from radio Sputnik's BradCast said while discussing the recent Republican scandal – or what she called a “soup opera in Washington DC” – with Huffington Post Washington Bureau Chief Ryan Grim.
Among other things, Sandler and Grim talked about a letter which he received just before he stepped aside. The letter contained a personal threat over his alleged affair with a colleague and a demand to give up the election race if he did not want the affair to be exposed.
His refusal was more bad news for the Republican Party, which found itself thrown into chaos after McCarthy’s move. But what struck Sandler most was the childish behavior of US politicians who are supposed to be responsible for running the country.
This story “really would not matter as you said. What these adults do in the privacy in their own bedrooms should be their own business,” Sandler said while discussing the incident with Grim.
“But when we start having this almost middle-school-like behavior from some of the [politicians] I am like, oh my Goodness, this is the United States Congress? Do we have any adults there?” Sandler exclaimed.
The rumors about McCarthy’s case intensified over the last week. Huffington Post confirmed that the e-mail was sent from Steve Baer, “a Chicago-based GOP donor, known for mass-emailing conservative figures and Republican lawmakers,” as was written earlier on the website tinyletter.com.
