David Frum asks a good question: what did Donald Trump get from Kevin McCarthy in exchange for Trump delivering Biggs and Gaetz?N.E. Brigand wrote: ↑Sat Jan 07, 2023 6:08 am Just a few hours ago, Matt Gaetz sent out a fundraising email that said, "Kevin McCarthy will never get my vote for Speaker."
And Gaetz voted present, so I guess the suckers who gave to him won't get their money back. There are five present votes so far. That reduces the total from 434 to 429, of which McCarthy would need 215. He'll get at least 216, so this saga is finally ending.
Edited to add: Olivia Beavers of Politico says that Gaetz had indeed finally agreed to vote for McCarthy (in exchange for what, I wonder?) but after Andy Biggs and Eli Crane, both preceding him in the roll, flipped from voting for others to voting present, Gaetz didn't need to vote for McCarthy, so he voted present again.
(Edited to correct order of Trump and McCarthy. Thanks to V for catching my error.)