The struggle embroiling Kevin McCarthy and blackmailers in the House is not new. It happened to me, twice
Fox News
A new Congress will be sworn in on January 3. A struggle is underway between Speaker-designate Kevin McCarthy and a small group of members who are using blackmail to get their way.
I use the word blackmailers deliberately. They are trying to exploit the vulnerability of their House Republican colleagues to get what they want – even if it is not what the rest of the conference wants. Newt Gingrich was Speaker of the U.S. House of Representatives from 1995-1999 and a candidate for the 2012 Republican presidential nomination. He is chairman of Gingrich 360.
The record for this kind of struggle was set in the longest speaker election in House history, when Nathaniel Banks was chosen in 1855 after 133 ballots. That agonizing fight took two months of voting. Imagine the C-SPAN audience it would have generated.