The fight to determine the next speaker of the House continues to drag on as conservative rebels reject Kevin McCarthy’s terms.
While some of the holdouts have opened the door to further talks with McCarthy and his team, others have outright refused to vote for a man they simply cannot trust.
According to Roll Call, at least five of the 20 detractors will never aid McCarthy’s ascent to the Speakership.
Freedom Caucus Chairman Scott Perry, one of the leaders of the effort to oust the longtime GOP leader, explained his stance.
“I, like many, have trust issues with the leader. But I wouldn’t say that everything is so finite that there’s no conceivable way,” Perry said according to Roll Call.
Representative Dan Bishop of North Carolina went so far as to tease a possible resignation if the rebel’s efforts prove in vain.
“We’re going to either see improvement up here the same way we made remarkable improvements in North Carolina in the state legislature, or I’m out,” Bishop declared as reported by Fox News.
He has since clarified that if McCarthy ultimately wins, “I will serve my term with all the force and vigor in me.”
So far, stopping McCarthy’s ascension to the gavel has been the easy part.
What the rebels are finding quite difficult is finding a consensus candidate of their own that other GOP reps could get behind.
Representative Andy Biggs cited “progress” on this front on Wednesday but did not reveal much.
McCarthy is dead set on staying in the fight for as long as it takes and while there have been some negotiations, many of the rebel GOPers simply just don’t trust his promises.
Bishop points out that McCarthy talks a good game about the nation’s issues, but in 14 years of being GOP leader not much has improved.
“Every one of them has gotten worse not better,” Bishop said speaking about the crises that America is facing.
As the conservative holdouts continue to strategize and adapt, the McCarthy faction remains resolute in its support.
“Kevin is not dropping out,” Brian Fitzpatrick of Pennsylvania said, according to Roll Call.
“He’s gonna keep roughly 200 votes for as long as it takes. So something’s gotta give, so I think cooler heads are starting to prevail. And they’re starting to come to an agreement on a lot of issues.”
It seems no concrete concessions have been made and the anti-McCarthy wing does not seem likely to budge and has warned the McCarthy camp about leaked conversations.
“This whole thing where people are talking about conversations — I’m not talking about ‘em, you know,” said Rep. Chip Roy of Texas.
“And the leadership’s office has got to be careful because they’re out there talking about things that were supposed to be private conversations, all of which can potentially undermine deals.”
Only time will tell if the impasse can be resolved, but both sides seem content to be in the trenches for as long as it takes as more ballots are cast on Thursday.
This article appeared originally on The Western Journal.