DeSantis on the Speaker Fight

Ron DeSantis was asked today, before the vote on vacating the speakership, what he thought. He had little time for Matt Gaetz’s “performative” motion to vacate, which he characterized as “theatrics,” but there is no love lost between DeSantis (a founder of the House Freedom Caucus) and McCarthy. Just a few weeks ago, McCarthy all but endorsed Trump on Fox News and slammed DeSantis in the process:

President Trump is beating Biden right now in the polls. He’s stronger than he has ever been in this process. And, look, I served with Ron DeSantis. He’s not at the same level as President Trump by any shape or form. He would not have gotten elected [governor] without President Trump’s endorsement.

DeSantis shot back:

Kevin McCarthy says I’m a little different from Donald Trump. I agree. In Florida, we run budget surpluses. We’ve paid down our debt. I’ve kept every one of my promises. Meanwhile, McCarthy and Trump worked together to add $7 trillion — more debt than our country racked up in its first 200 years — to the debt in just four years.

So, without endorsing today’s fiasco, DeSantis enjoyed a little schadenfreude and the opportunity to build his anti-Washington, pox-on-all-houses brand while tying Trump (who in January took credit for McCarthy’s elevation to the speakership) to the embattled now-ex speaker: “I opposed McCarthy before it was cool. . . . He’s really someone that Donald Trump has backed and put into that position.”