Good evening, everyone. Im laura coates, here with abby philip, and this is a Special Edition of cnn tonight. Kevin mccarthy, i listed as house speaker, he says hes not dont even run again. Now, the house will be in recess for a week. Theyre not even planning to return till next tuesday night for cough conference meetings, before then, a Potential Vote later that week on electing a new speaker. So that means the house will be closed for business, maybe well get another speaker. Me while, because he lost that speakership gavel today, police said this tonight. These are the same people that never voted for me, they thought it was big they went to present. After we went through 15 rounds. Im not quite sure those individuals are looking to be productive. Well, this is certainly a moment in american history. And a series of a number of moments that weve never seen anything like before. Never before has a speaker lost the job in a vote on the house floor. And it happened with the pounding of the gavel. The office of speaker of the house of the United States house of representatives is hereby declared vacant. It started pretty much from the moment Kevin Mccarthy was Elected Speaker in the Early Morning hours of january 7th after 15 rounds of voting. I know i was up for it all. Hardliners in his own party had been threatening to dump him ever since. The gop civil war, well, it all came to quite the head today. We need a speaker we need a speaker who will fight for something, anything, your sides to staying or becoming speaker. They are willing to plunge this body into chaos and this country into uncertainty for reasons that only they really understand. I certainly dont. Chaos is speaker mccarthy. Chaos is somebody who we cannot trust with their word. Now its time for us to stand together, stronger than ever, so we can get back to the work our majority was elected to do. I am proud to support the speaker. Kevin mccarthy has been rocksolid. Weve passed the bills we told the American People we would pass. Well, now the house will be paralyzed in you remember how long that took the last time. And there are a lot of words to describe what we have been watching, frankly, all day. Chaos is one. Disruption, insanity, but i think dysfunction may actually describe it best. The house of representatives, the peoples house, is not functioning the way it was designed to. Can we all agree on that . And theres so much at stake when it does not, so many huge challenges our country is facing, so many things the houses actually not doing right now. I mean, there is aid for ukraine, fighting to keep its own democracy alive. Theres funding the United States government. Lets remember the lastminute deal that was hammered out just Saturday Night only funds the government through, what, November 17th . Youve got the Immigration Crisis at the borders. The epidemic of gun violence is Killing Thousands and thousands of us every single year. The Climate Crisis thats fueling wildfires and floods and monstrous storms, none of that is being addressed right now. Thats just a sliver of the things. But do the hardliners have a point of some kind . They are talking about the debt, which is reaching unimaginable levels. But the question is, how much of all of what we are seeing is politics and how much is principle . Is it all really about the Attention Economy and the spotlight . Or are they standing up for what they truly believe . Maybe the answer might lie somewhere in the middle. Joining me now, republican congressman dan meuser, he voted against removing Kevin Mccarthy as house speaker. Thank you for joining us. I spoke to you on the radio this morning. Here we are, the book end of a long conversation, congressman. I have to ask you, who should take the mantle of leadership next . Great to be with you, laura. I appreciate it. To answer your question, i want to support as our next speaker, and very unfortunately, today a very historic day, and not for the right reasons. It was historic in that we created a situation where we really have a setback for our party and for this body and for our nation. We werent constructive today. In many ways, we were destructive. To answer your question, we need a new speaker that, first of all, can do the job, thats got the capability, experience, to do the job. Secondly, that has the character, moral fortitude, that we can trust in, because we saw today that there were a lot of activities and antics. Taking place that i think were a bit questionable, that maybe were a bit selfish and were based on a vendetta. And thirdly, we need an individual that can win, that can win over all the portions of our Republican Party, which is pretty diverse, as we are saying. And can in the end, lead. So i know weve got that individual. Well see who it turns out. You mentioned chaos. We had chaos today, ill grant that. But you know what . Within a couple of days, we will be back working on truly the priorities that the American People sent us here for. Hopefully that is the case. I do wonder, and many people are watching this and wondering how deep that bench really is, because when it came to Kevin Mccarthy being sworn in, the first time, i remember there were a lot of different rounds, as you well know. There were names being thrown around. They did not have the 218 votes. It didnt seem like everyone was raising their hand immediately and saying, pick me, put me in coach, im ready to play. And play they must, congressman, because in 40 some days the next potential Government Shutdown will be here again. So how long with this process of trying to find that person that you say is ready actually set back those discussions . Patrick mchenry was of course the speaker pro champ, and its a great choice. Extremely intelligent, capable member. So hell guide us through the next several days. We will be voting come wednesday. We will be reconvening tuesday. And part of that, by the way, the recess, is due to, i understand, senator Dianne Feinsteins funeral. So we will be handling this come next week. A number of things that need to be done, organizational planning, as well as those members who are going to decide to enter this race and seek the votes. So i know theres at least two or three theyre on my short list. Who . Whos on that list . Its a little bit too early to say, but i its early in the night, congressman. Who is it . I do believe Majority Leader Steve Scalise is certainly highly capable, a great human being, and knows the operation of this and certainly meets the criteria i mentioned. I also think jim jordan is a strong leader, who i respect very much. And there are probably a few others. But i offered a couple of names there and, my guess is that they very well may run. But i cant speak for them. I havent heard that for certain. We heard manu raju asking jim jordan asking him if he would run. It was up to the caucus. I didnt hear you mention matt gaetz, although his name was coming up for other reasons. A number of your colleagues are trying to expel him. Nothing can be done, of course, until the speakers in place. But whats your opinion of matt gaetz tonight . You mentioned antics and things that you thought were disingenuous. Would you vote for him to get out of congress . No. That would be up to his constituents. Look, we had a long day. It has been some frustration, certainly and i really believe this wasnt done for the right reasons. You mentioned policy or principle i think a lot was politics, i think some was personal. The idea that they couldnt articulate, i mean they talk a lot, lets face it. Matt gaetz can talk a lot and in an articulate manner. But theres very little detail to it as to what the reasons were for this initiative. And if i join the others. Whats done is done. The eight joined with all the democrats to overthrow our Elected Speaker, that was took 15 rounds m but we elected. So far more speaker rounds in our congress were favorable to Kevin Mccarthy, myself included, and today what we did is we focused on something that the American People had no interest in us focusing on because kevin was capable and we were working on Border Security. We were working on, frankly, all the crises created by the white house, as well as far too many in the democrat conference. And we have inflation that is rampant. And we have border insecurity, Gasoline Prices at the highest levels. There are solution to these problems and thats what we should be focusing on. This, as i started saying, is a setback of the day. One administration cannot take the blame, but i wonder if it will be assigned to this party given what took place this week and this day. Congressman dan meuser, thank you for joining us tonight. Abby . Thanks, laura. Lets pick up where you left off there. Joining us at the table, john avlon, senior political analyst, still with us, jamal simmons, andrew yang, coleman young, and john, what happens to republicans . What happens to republicans next . Not a return to a highly productive governing, as the previous guest said. There will be a weke of jockeying and trying to figure out who can carry the mantle. Trump will pick his candidates. It will be a big week of Finger Pointing and horse racing. Steve scalise is probably in Poll Position because he is widely respected and has moral authority. And he is also the most qualified and least divisive. At the end of the day, the problem is structural. We saw history today. The first speaker taken out of office because of the scandal that he kept Government Open, and had the temerity to do it with democratic votes. That is a Firing Offense in washington. Add to this the legacy of john boehner leaving the speakership because he could not corral the far right, paul ryan doing effectively the same thing. Eric cantor for being forced out. All the young guns are gone, because of a structural problem with the Republican Party. They cannot control their farright. It will not get better. I want to read what asa hutchinson, republican, longtime republican, and running for president as well. He said what happened today on the house floor is a gift to democrats. It sets off alarm bells as 2024 approaches. Yes, absolutely. Democrats must be feeling this. They must be feeling that the Republican Party looks like it cannot keep its own house clean right now. And so, on the one hand this is a huge victory for democrats, on the other hand, i am not sure this should be seen as a victory from anyones perspective, because ultimately as the american citizens, the house governs all of us, right . You want to be willing to see people put governing the country over partisan politics. And sometimes that means crossing party lines and joining it on the other side, whether that be to fund the government or to keep the speaker in power. And we are just seeing too little of that on both sides, frankly. This is a loss for the country. And lauras list had ukraine eight at number one. Imagine if you were one of the u. S. Has partners around the world, or ukraine itself, saying, hey guys, we are fighting russia here, and then you see that aid to your military falls into this abyss of american dysfunction. I mean, our debt was downgraded just the other day, and do you think that if your Ratings Agency right now, if you have confidence in americas credit moving forward this is a huge l for the country. I wish that our parties actually had those interests first and foremost, instead of we will look good relative to the other guys. It is a disease that is destroying the country. Here is the problem. The democrats it is so hard for them to do a credible deal with the other side because these guys dont want to govern. They dont want to do anything beneficial. Its like they are trying to be fox famous, they are on television remember trey gowdy . He was the leader of the house and chose to leave congress to be a Talk Show Host. He thought it was more important to be a Talk Show Host than a leader of United States congress. They are not a credible group. So, if you are a democratic leader and you want to do a deal with a partner, you need somebody on the other side that you can trust to actually fulfill that. Yes, but this is a lost opportunity for democrats, ultimately, as well. I understand why they did not throw Kevin MccarthyA Lifeline Out of the gate. They thought that he would be renominated and they could have gotten him better turns, something resembling more bipartisan structural issues. But, they chose not to do that, and that republicans will try to blame them for what happened to Kevin Mccarthy. No one should be fooled by that, this is about the farright. We need a party that is consistently adult in this country. It is not the Republican Party, structurally. I think that whatever the long game was for democrats, they could have risen above the partisan noise a little bit more and maybe gotten some favorable terms to have more genuine bipartisan government, Going Forward. So, jamal and john, you know who made the point that you are making, here . Here is republican congressman austin scott. If he is not a household name, that is okay. Take a listen to what he has to say. Those eight people are and our kids, and their chaos caucus members. The fact of the matter is, they get their power from the democrats voting with them all of the time. The conference will have to figure out how we deal with eight people that are not interested in governing. They are more interested in grifting. The story has been, up until today, always about these eight or ten or however many there are. The story tomorrow and toward the end of the week will be about what folks like that congressman do. He is angry. His face was red with fury because he is sick of this, and they will have some concessions that they want, too . Yes, they must be sick of this because dont make too much of this analogy, but the whole logic of not negotiating with terrorists, for example, is that the crazy people can determine policy if they are stubborn enough. And i am not comparing any u. S. Congressman to actual terrorists. Thats okay. But, the logic is the same. And as the more sane people in the party, you have to get sick of this. Remember, elections are choices between the people you have and the other people, right . So, the idea that there will be a magical unicorn that shows up and makes everybody feel better does not really show up. No, no, no so, if you are on one hand on one hand, you have joe biden and Kamala Harris, who today were dealing with lowering Prescription Drug prices for seniors, swearing in the fonda butler into the center of the news, its yet a very credible Governing Party happy you had ridiculousness. Everyone gets the contrasts, and biden can 0. 300 by present bills when democrats have control the house, senate, in watching in the first two years of his term. But this is a point that andrew makes all the time. We actually need to see the center hold for our politics to work. Those 18 republicans who are in districts that biden won should be exerting as much influence, if not more, than the matt gaetzs and the extremists on the farright that do not represent the party, let alone the country. We need the center of both parties to hold and work together, structurally that is not getting done. Jamal, we know the nature of todays Republican Party. The democrats in Congress Know the nature of todays party. So, if you say lets let them bring the country down and ha ha, we look good relative to them, that is bad for the country. If you had 20 democrats vote present and go to Kevin Mccarthy and say, we saved your bacon, here is what we want, we are having a very different conversation now. Here is the reason that did not happen, just as a reminder. We just talked to ilhan omar about this in the last hour. Kevin mccarthy used democratic votes on saturday, then on sunday he turns around and says, they are the bad guys. Its political theater, and everyone knows it. It is not just bad faith, but if you are a democrat how do you go forward and say, i can work with this guy . You cant, and lets keep in mind that this is not a this person or that person nature. These democrats will go out and run campaigns next year, and well be able to run campaigns against this Chaos Maga Wing and you might get a Democratic House back. What happens with the last and we had a Democratic House . You have infrastructure legislation, environmental legislation, child for childcare and working people. You had all sorts of things that happen. Youve got people nominated. What you are saying, jamal, is you can take a short term hit to the country because it will be good for your party in the next cycle. Its not about the party, its good for the country. The country will have a governing coalition. I think the larger point here that is trying to be made is that Kevin Mccarthy there was the debt ceiling deal. Democrats and republicans got us off that cliff and then he reversed h