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‘I’m Not Quite Sure What They Want’: McCarthy Dares Republicans to Oust Him as His Frustration With Members Grows
Speaker Kevin McCarthy‘s frustration with his own House Republicans continues to grow as he dared them to oust him during a closed door meeting of the GOP Conference Thursday morning.
The Speaker “dared members from his own party who have been threatening to oust him to bring a motion to vacate to the House floor,” The Messenger reports.
McCarthy “said he’s not scared of the motion, which — if approved — would vacate him from the No. 1 leadership post,” The Messenger adds, citing a source in the room.
“Move the f—ing motion,” he dared them.
READ MORE: ‘Matt Is Upset About an Ethics Complaint’: GOP Divide Deepens as McCarthy Smacks Down Gaetz
That meeting was supposed to be focused on investigations but reportedly also included heated conversations on the rapidly approaching September 30 deadline to fund the government and avoid an October 1 shutdown.
Punchbowl News cofounder Jake Sherman reports he asked the Speaker “what was going on” with “this funding mess,” as McCarthy was headed in to the meeting.
“Yeah, I don’t understand how members, they have no complaint about the DoD [Dept. of Defense] bill. But they don’t want to pass it,” McCarthy told Sherman.
“I got a small group of members who don’t want to vote for CR [a continuing resolution], don’t want to vote for individual bills and don’t want to vote for an Omni,” he added, referring to a massive all-encompassing “omnibus” bill.
“I’m not quite sure what they want,” McCarthy said.
Minutes later Sherman reported: “House Republicans are meeting behind closed doors. The stated topic is investigations. But he’s [McCarthy’s] now talking about funding. We don’t win shutdowns, he’s telling his colleagues 16 days from funding expiring.”
McCarthy appeared to mock Democrats by telling his fellow House Republicans, while using his speech to also attack his fellow Republicans, which Sherman called McCarthy’s “’where we are’ pitch.”
U.S. Secretary of Energy Jennifer Granholm “can’t charge her car,” McCarthy told his members, referring to reports of a hardware problem on an electric Cadillac that caused problems on a trip earlier this summer.
Sherman, paraphrasing McCarthy, reports he said: “Two ‘liberal newspapers’ say Biden shouldn’t run again. Pelosi getting asked about whether Biden and Harris should run again. ‘And we can’t pass our DOD bill?'” McCarthy said. If we get in a shutdown, McCarthy said, how do we get out of it. Biden, [McCarthy] said, would have articles written making him look like the adult in the room.”
McCarthy appeared to continue to blast Republicans.
Sherman reports McCarthy told his members, “If you think we have more leverage in a shutdown, I don’t think that. You give all the power to the administration. If you have an honor flight coming in, they’ll put bike racks around the monuments so they can’t see them. ‘Our power is if we pass appropriations bills and make Democrats defend their votes.'”
He also “effectively said he’s not afraid of a motion to vacate. He said any speaker would do roughly what he’s doing.”
The motion to vacate is part of the concession package McCarthy reportedly agreed to that allowed him enough votes to win the gavel in January after a contentious battle and 15 attempts.
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A prominent member of the Kennedy family is demanding the resignation of Robert F. Kennedy Jr., after the Health and Human Services Secretary made inaccurate and damaging claims in a Senate hearing just one day ago.
Secretary Kennedy, an anti-vaxxer and conspiracy theorist, told U.S. senators that he did not know the number of Americans who died from COVID, denied that his policy decisions were reducing access to the COVID vaccine, spread false or misleading claims about overall vaccine safety, and defended the changes at his agency that have led to the resignations of top officials and protests by employees.
Joe Kennedy III is a former U.S. congressman, a former U.S. special envoy for Northern Ireland, and the grandson of the late U.S. Senator and U.S. Attorney General Robert F. Kennedy.
On Friday, he blasted RFK Jr.
READ MORE: ‘Bananas’: Trump Official Torched for Dismissing Millions of Americans as ‘Nonexistent’
“Robert Kennedy Jr. is a threat to the health and wellbeing of every American,” Kennedy wrote in a statement on social media. “A United States Secretary of Health and Human Services is tasked with protecting the public health of our country and its people. At yesterday’s hearing, he chose to do the opposite: to dismiss science, mislead the public, sideline experts and sow confusion.”
“None of us will be spared the pain he is inflicting. It doesn’t matter how rich or powerful you are or what state you live in — the heartbreak of watching a loved one fall ill knows no borders.”
“The challenges before us-from disease outbreaks to mental health crises-demand moral clarity, scientific expertise, and leadership rooted in fact. Those values are not present in the Secretary’s office. He must resign.”
RELATED: ‘What You Said Were Lies’: Democrat Shreds RFK Jr. in Fiery Exchange
Image via Reuters
A top Trump official is under fire after attempting to downplay the increase in the unemployment rate by declaring all 7 million people as “statistically nonexistent.”
U.S. Secretary of Labor Lori Chavez-DeRemer shared with Fox News several inaccurate claims, stating that consumer confidence is up — it’s down — and claiming that real wages are up year over year, almost 4% — when in reality they rose just 1.2%, according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics.
Not only is consumer confidence down, it is “far lower than it was for much of 2023 and 2024,” according to The Wall Street Journal.
She also claimed there is a “blue collar boom,” but Friday’s jobs report reveals blue collar jobs are stagnating, according to economics writer Joey Politano:
“US blue-collar job growth has completely stagnated, hitting the lowest level since the onset of the pandemic—manufacturing is currently losing jobs at a rapid pace, and growth in construction/transportation has slowed to a crawl.”
READ MORE: Rubio Says US Blew Up Alleged Drug Boat ‘On the President’s Orders’ — Legality Questioned
The Labor Secretary acknowledged her words may seem like rhetoric, but maintained “it’s not, because that’s what we’re seeing on the ground” — a claim contradicted by facts.
She also insisted that unemployment is “holding steady.”
“Statistically, it’s nonexistent,” she said, a remark that received tremendous blowback.
“This is a bananas quote,” declared Aaron Fritschner, deputy chief of staff for U.S. Rep. Don Beyer (D-VA). “I get that they are going with ‘nothing to see here please disperse’ but saying 4.3% of the U.S. working population being unemployed is ‘statistically nonexistent’ is a pretty incredible slap in the face from the Secretary of Labor to 7 million people.”
Congressman Beyer also weighed in, writing: “The Trump Administration’s message to 7.4 million unemployed Americans is that ‘statistically’ they are ‘nonexistent.’ A stunningly awful and dishonest thing to say.”
READ MORE: Texas Makes It Easier for Kids to Skip Vaccines After Worst Measles Outbreak in Decades
“You heard that right,” declared U.S. Rep. Bonnie Watson Coleman (D-NJ). “Struggling Americans looking for a job don’t exist according to the Trump Administration. Most anti-worker admin of my lifetime. Despicable.”
“There are over 7 million people looking for a job right now,” noted U.S. Rep. Sara Jacobs (D-CA). “They matter. They don’t cease to exist because of the Trump Administration’s failed policies.”
U.S. Rep. Jerry Nadler (D-NY) added, “Unemployment is rising and the country is losing thousands of jobs. Hard working Americans are feeling the effects of Trump’s reckless economic policies and job-killing tariffs. These are numbers we haven’t seen since the pandemic — this is entirely Trump’s doing.”
Watch the video below or at this link.
VARNEY: Do tariffs have anything to do with the slowing jobs market?
LORI CHAVEZ-DeREMER: Tariffs are working … unemployment is still holding steady. Statistically, it’s nonexistent. pic.twitter.com/ObPkFQBylu
— Aaron Rupar (@atrupar) September 5, 2025
READ MORE: ‘Worst Place Since the Pandemic’: Experts ‘Worried’ Over ‘Ominous’ Jobs Report
Image via Reuters
Texas has just moved to make it easier for parents to exempt their children from school vaccination requirements—just weeks after the worst measles outbreak in a generation ended.
762 people contracted measles over the summer. Two unvaccinated children died, and 100 people had to be hospitalized, according to PBS News.
“West Texas was the nation’s measles epicenter for months. The virus started spreading there in close-knit, undervaccinated Mennonite communities in Gaines County,” PBS reported. The outbreak was declared over in mid-August.
READ MORE: Rubio Says US Blew Up Alleged Drug Boat ‘On the President’s Orders’ — Legality Questioned
This week, the Texas Department of State Health Services (DSHS) began allowing parents to download a form to request their children be exempt from any or all required vaccines. Previously, parents had to request the form, which was then mailed to them, according to The Texas Tribune.
Calling this new system “empowering,” Rebecca Hardy, executive director of Texans for Vaccine Choice, said: “The previous mailed, hard-copy process for requesting vaccine exemption affidavits was outdated, costly to taxpayers, raised privacy and tracking concerns, and created unnecessary barriers for families seeking to exercise their rights.”
DSHS also published a form telling parents the benefits and risks of immunization, but the form is not attached to the exemption request form.
Requests for exemption forms have risen dramatically.
“Since 2018, the requests to the Texas Department of State Health Services for a vaccine exemption form have doubled from 45,900 to more than 93,000 in 2024,” the Tribue reported. “Even before the new form became easier to access, the state received 17,197 requests for a vaccine exemption form in July, 36% higher than the number reported in July 2023.”
READ MORE: ‘Worst Place Since the Pandemic’: Experts ‘Worried’ Over ‘Ominous’ Jobs Report
Texas has more kindergarteners unvaccinated for measles than any other state in the nation, and falls below the 95% immunization rate required to achieve herd immunity.
In what is being called a “public health disaster,” Florida is now in the process of banning all vaccine mandates for children.
It’s not just Texas and Florida.
On Thursday, CNN reported that support for childhood vaccines being mandatory has plunged from 81% in 1991 to just 51% in 2024.
Watch the video below or at this link.
Support for government requiring childhood vaccines against infectious diseases has dropped to just 51%.pic.twitter.com/XIrvj3BwWj
— David Badash (@davidbadash) September 5, 2025
READ MORE: ‘Weak, Weak, Weak’: Trump Economy Getting Worse, Majority of Americans Say
Image via Reuters
‘None of Us Will Be Spared’: Kennedy Scion Rips RFK Jr. in Call for Resignation
‘Bananas’: Trump Official Torched for Dismissing Millions of Americans as ‘Nonexistent’
Texas Makes It Easier for Kids to Skip Vaccines After Worst Measles Outbreak in Decades
‘Weak, Weak, Weak’: Trump Economy Getting Worse, Majority of Americans Say
‘Worst Place Since the Pandemic’: Experts ‘Worried’ Over ‘Ominous’ Jobs Report
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