Patrick McHenry To Nancy Pelosi: Get Out!

With all the chaos on Capitol Hill this week, the attention laser-focused on eight rogue Republicans instead of where it should be - on the failed Biden presidency - there was one sweet slice of retribution.

On Tuesday evening, immediately after the coup that toppled Kevin McCarthy from the Speaker’s position, Interim Speaker Patrick McHenry flexed his muscles and unceremoniously evicted Nancy Pelosi from her plush digs in the Capitol.

She already has an office in the adjacent Longworth Building, with the rest of ordinary House members, but her primo “Hideaway” office was a coveted spot close to the action where Pelosi held court and plotted with fellow Dems.

Democrats on Tuesday joined with the eight-member GOP Lollipop Guild to topple Kevin McCarthy, making him a former Speaker of the House. 

McCarthy gets Pelosi’s office, McHenry declared, according to CNN.

GOP Rep. Garret Graves told reporters on Wednesday that McCarthy is getting the office that McHenry has ordered her to vacate.

“Look the deal is that the office that Pelosi is in right now is the office of the preceding speaker. Speaker Pelosi and other Democrats determined that they wanted a new … speaker, and it’s Kevin McCarthy. So, he’s getting the office,” he said.

Sources close to Pelosi and Hoyer say it was retaliation for Democrats siding against McCarthy in voting to vacate the speaker’s chair Tuesday. The unofficial offices are located near the House floor…

Pelosi on Tuesday said McHenry has ordered her to vacate her office in the Capitol building…An email sent from McHenry’s office to Pelosi’s office just after 6 p.m. Tuesday evening that was viewed by CNN, stated, “Going to reassign h-132 for speaker office use. Please vacate the space tomorrow.”

Pelosi said in a statement that she was not in Washington D.C. to immediately move her belongings…”Sadly, because I am in California to mourn the loss of and pay tribute to my dear friend Dianne Feinstein, I am unable to retrieve my belongings at this time.”

I like McHenry’s style. From the way he whacked that gavel at the close of the session on Tuesday to his nimble move to dislodge Pelosi from her lair, the congressman from North Carolina clearly means business.

Seems McHenry’s bespectacled, bow-tied  bearing is misleading. Underneath that unassuming Southern gentleman’s disguise beats the heart of a political tiger.

The interim speaker’s next play should be to box up Pelosi’s papers, tchotchkes and denture cream and toss her detritus on the curb.

Then he should jump into the race to be the next speaker. Why not? McCarthy’s soft-spoken, polite demeanor wasn’t to the Dems liking. Perhaps they’d prefer a Speaker with super-sized cajones. 

I know I would.